2022 Fall Issue

DR. ABRAHAM HENRY

DR. VANDEON GRIFFIN

PASTOR PIERRE FRANÇOIS

Published by the Office for Regional Conference Ministry in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists

7000 Adventist Boulevard Huntsville, Alabama 35896 (256) 830-5002

Website: https://adventistregionalministries.org

PUBLISHER Dana C. Edmond EDITOR

A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS EMERGES

OFFICE FOR REGIONAL CONFERENCE MINISTRY

7000 Adventist Boulevard Huntsville, Alabama 35896 or fax to (256) 830-5078 We reserve the right to publish and edit your submissions and letters.

REGIONAL CONFERENCE OFFICES

ALLEGHENY EAST CONFERENCE

MARCELLUS ROBINSON, PRESIDENT

LaTasha Hewitt, Communications Director P.O. Box 266 Pine Forge, PA 19548 (610) 326-4610. www.myalleghenyeast.org

ALLEGHENY WEST CONFERENCE

MARVIN BROWN, PRESIDENT

Benia Jennings, Communications Director 1080 Kingsmill Pkwy. Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 252-5271. www.awconf.org

CENTRAL STATES CONFERENCE

ROGER BERNARD, PRESIDENT

Cryston Josiah, Communications Director 3301 Parallel Parkway Kansas City, KS 66104 (913) 371-1071. www.central-states.org

LAKE REGION CONFERENCE

GARTH GABRIEL, PRESIDENT

JeNean Lendor, Communications Director 19860 South La Grange Road Chicago, IL 60619 (773) 846-2661. www.lakeregionsda.org

NORTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

ABRAHAM JULES, PRESIDENT Duddley Francois, Communications Director 115-50 Merrick Blvd. Jamaica, NY 11434 (718) 291-8006. www.northeastern.org

SOUTH ATLANTIC CONFERENCE

CALVIN B. PRESTON, PRESIDENT

James Lamb, Communications Director 3978 Memorial Drive Decatur, GA 30032 (404) 792-0535. www.southatlantic.org

SOUTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE

BENJAMIN JONES, PRESIDENT

Roger Wade, Communications Director 715 Youngs Lane Nashville, TN 37207 (615) 226-6500. www.scc-adventist.org

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

DR. MICHAEL OWUSU, PRESIDENT Arnaldo Cruz, Communications Director 1701 Robie Avenue Mt. Dora, FL 32757 (352) 735-3142. www.secsda.org

SOUTHWEST REGION CONFERENCE

DR. CARLTON P. BYRD, PRESIDENT

Norman Jones, Communications Director 2215 Lanark Avenue Dallas, TX 75203 (214) 943-4491. www.southwestregion adventistchurchconnect.org

2021 REGIONAL DIRECTORS/COORDINATORS ROSTER

Virgil Childs, Vice President

Regional Ministries

Pacific Union Conference 2686 Townsgate Road Westlake Village, CA 91361 (805) 413-7100. www.puconline.org

Cell: 909-225-6438

Kingsley Palmer, Vice President

African American Dept. Arizona Conference

Cell: 775-338-0858 genx58@gmail.com

James Scarborough, Coordinator

African American Ministries Central California Conference (831) 262-3838 famar@sbcglobal.net

Oneil Madden, Coordinator

African American Dept. Nevada-Utah Conference

Cell 702-875-5979 pastoromadden@aol.com

Byron Dulan, Vice President

North Pacific Union Conference 5709 N. 20th Street Ridgefield, WA 98642 (360) 857-7000. www.npuc.org

Robert Edwards, Vice President, Black Ministries

Southeastern California Conference (909) 202-0147 | kinggm@seccsda.org

Royal Harrison, Director

G.L.A.R. Southern California Conference (503) 819-1498 hroyal2@yahoo.com

PPart of my responsibility in this position is to go to conference constituency meet ings (probably the technically correct term is “conference sessions”). In these meetings, churches within their conference send representatives, or delegates, to receive reports from the leadership of a given conference and to select leaders for the next term— which is usually four to five years.

Virtually all of my experience with conference constituency meetings has been with Regional Conferences, and most of those in the South Central Conference. In those constituency meetings, I was an office holder and my name was one being voted upon. I can tell you from personal experience that constituency meetings are very different when your name is one of the names being discussed. It is a very different experience for you, your spouse, and your children.

I believe that some of the people who participate in the constituency process would approach it differently if their names or their family members’ names were being dis cussed (and sometimes, dissected and diced). Well, that is the subject for another ar ticle!

Having attended four of the five Regional Conference constituency meetings this year—with one more to attend—I am reporting two trends to note thus far:

1. The leaders of the conferences below the Presidential level and the Executive Com mittee (which is the governing body of a conference) are younger than those who have served in the past. Three of the last four conferences holding constituency meetings elected conference executive secretaries (the Number Two position in the conference) who were all considerably younger than their predecessors—including one conference secretary who is younger than the minimum age to be elected President of the United States.

Each of these new conference secretaries is featured in this issue of The Regional Voice I have known them for varying lengths of time, from one whom I’ve known since he was a teenager to one I just met. I have spent time with each of them and found them to be gifted individuals. I believe their leadership will be a blessing to the body of Christ. Additionally, this office will be doing other things to introduce these new leaders to the broader Regional Conference constituency.

2. The Executive Committees of most of the conferences who have had constituency meetings seem to be more ethnically diverse than those of the past.

Diversity is a wonderful thing. A conference that is called to reach all people can do that better if its leadership is comprised of as many different people as possible.

But the differences that come with having different people from different ages and different backgrounds also come with different challenges. Inevitably, those people, of different ages and from different backgrounds, come with different ideas of how things should be done.

The challenge is learning how to merge these emerging leaders with the current leadership, without the conference becoming submerged in the inevitable conflict with the different methods or viewpoints that people from different backgrounds bring.

Here are some suggested ways to deal with those challenges:

I. Realize those challenges will almost certainly exist. If you bring different people of different ages, with different backgrounds together, they will inevitably see things from different perspectives.

In and of itself, that is not a bad thing. An organization needs different people who will see things differently because:

Changing everything is not always a good idea;

Keeping everything the same is not always a good idea.

Never having any new ideas is a terrible idea.

Healthy organizations arise out of a healthy conflict. It comes between what an or ganization used to do in the past and what it will need to do differently in the future.

There are struggles between what was and what needs to be. As long as the conflict does not be come personal, that conflict is actually healthy.

Here is a quotation I believe is true: “In an organization, if everyone is thinking the same way, then someone is not thinking. And, conflict is inevitable; warfare is optional.”

II. Be intentional about providing training and orientation for leaders, boards and com mittees. While conferences are becoming much better at doing this, there are still too many peo ple serving as leaders or on boards and commit tees where they have never received training on what is expected of them.

If you are expecting leaders to do certain jobs without telling them what you expect of them, there will be frustration all around when, inev itably, they don’t do what is expected in their jobs.

There are zillions of committees and boards in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with zil lions of people serving on them without ever having received any orientation or training on what they are supposed to do and what is ex pected of them.

I am not sure why anyone expects that to work.

III. Respect, and even be grateful for, the dif ferent perspectives different people bring to the decision-making table. No one person or group has all of the answers a conference needs. We can—and should—learn from each other and benefit from our differences and not battle over them.

I compare it to my home. My wife and I are very different in terms of temperament. I want things decided quickly; my wife’s last quick de cision was when I asked her to marry me.

There are any number of things I am grate ful that my wife prevented me from doing that I thought needed to be done right away. I have learned from my wife that everything does not have to be decided immediately. Hopefully, my wife has learned from me that some things do have to be decided eventually For example, I would like for her to choose the restaurant where we are eating before our 7-year-old grand son finishes grad school and I die of starvation while she is making up her mind.

The Lord has placed different people in differ ent leadership positions to accomplish different things. Some people may accomplish more than others. But while each person is better suited to accomplish different things, everyone is needed to accomplish everything that the Lord wants to do. And everyone needs to realize that.

IV. Finally, the people who cannot, or who will not, respect the different perspectives that different people bring—or respect the different people who bring them—need to be “encour aged” to find something different to do.

Everyone is not temperamentally suited to serve in positions that require collaboration. While the church needs to demonstrate the spirit of Christ in dealing with such individu als and treat them the way we would want to be treated when we demonstrate faults of our own, that does not mean that we have to forever

tolerate those who will not col laborate. There are simply some people who should not serve on boards and committees.

I think we are seeing a new generation of leaders emerge. No one person is indispensable or indestructible. Change is in evitable; we can either embrace it or we can fight it. But ulti mately, we cannot stop it.

Hopefully and prayerfully, all of us will work together to see the change that we all most want to see—our change from this earth to the New Earth. t

There are zillions of committees and boards in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with zillions of people serving on them without ever having received any orientation or training on what they are supposed to do and what is expected of them.

Dana Edmond Publisher

Dana C. Edmond, Director of the Office for Regional Conference Ministry, (ORCM), is also publish er of Regional Voice Magazine.

Pages 30, 34, 38, 40

IN MEMORIAM

Elder Dan Jackson

Elder Walter Arties

Elder Ralph Franklin

Dr. George Thornton

nities experience the Word made flesh.

By Claudia M. Allen

Coverage coordinated by Dr. Bryant Taylor

Page 4

PUBLISHER’S COMMENTARY

A New Generation of Leaders Emerges

Three of the last four conferences holding constituency meetings elected conference executive secretaries who were all consider ably younger than their predeces sors. One conference secretary is younger than the minimum age to be elected President of the United States.

By Dana C. Edmond

Page 8

COVER STORY

The Next Generation of Leaders

This year in three Regional Confer ences, delegates voted three young pastors into office as Executive Vice Presidents—a historic development.

By Joseph Hyde

Page 12

ORCM NEWS

After Three Years, The Black Caucus Meets In Person

The Office for Regional Conference Ministries (ORCM) organized the

first fully in-person meeting of the North American Division (NAD) Regional Black Caucus since 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Reported by Dana C. Edmond Photography by Wanda Lott

Page 16

REGIONAL NEWS Lake Region Conference Delegates Elect Officers

President Garth Gabriel made this pledge to the delegates: “We will work diligently with honesty and integrity to serve you as best as we can, with God’s grace.”

Reported by JeNean Lendor

Page 18

REGIONAL NEWS

The South Central Conference 2022 Constituency Report

Elder Benjamin Jones, President, was re-elected. Dr. Vandeon Griffin, who had served previously as a pastor and a departmental director for the conference, was elected Executive Secretary. Mrs. Sonja M. Crayton, Treasurer and Chief Finan cial Officer, was re-elected.

Page 20

REGIONAL NEWS

South Atlantic Conference Delegates Elect New President; Make Constitution Changes

The delegates elected Elder Calvin Preston to serve as President. They re-elected Elder David Smith as Executive Vice President and Elder Merkita Moseley as Chief Financial Officer, but changed these adminis trative titles according to revisions in their constitution.

Page 22

REGIONAL NEWS

President Abraham Jules Leads Northeastern in an “Evangelistic Re-Set”

President Jules, NEC Pastor Marty Vargas, Elder Calvin Watkins, NAD; President Ron Smith, Southern Union; Dr. Jesse Wilson, Oakwood University; Dr. Rupert Bushner, Southeastern Conference, President Glenn Samuels West Jamaica Conference; Elder Claudius Morgan Evangelist, Caribbean Union; and Elder Carlos Blake, Panama, with the great Northeastern team have all vigorously proclaimed, “Evangelism is not dead!”

By Dana C. Edmond

Page 24

IN TRANSITION

Elder Steve Norman Pauses Between

Assignments

Elder Norman, former Southern Union Communication Director and Editor of the Southern Tidings, retires from a rich, productive ministerial career that began in his student days at Oakwood College.

By Kyna Hinson

We join families, friends and the Church to pay tribute and bid fare well to more dedicated leaders.

Page 41

NEWS FEATURE Oakwood University Update on the Carter Hall Fire

Though there was damage from the fire and smoke in this residence hall, no lives were lost; no injuries were reported and return for stu dents is underway.

By Leslie N. Pollard

Pages 50, 51

IN TRIBUTE

Basketball Legend Bill Russell

Famed Actress Nichelle Nichols

They made their marks in the glare of the spotlight and when it counted behind the scenes.

to apologize and some share their stories.

By Christelle Agboka

Page 52

HISTORICAL FEATURE Back to the Future of Public Evangelism

Page 26

IN TRANSITION

Dr.

John Nixon

Finds New Avenues of Service

After 45 years of ministry, Dr. John Nixon, former Executive Secretary of the South Central Conference, opens his retirement with an innovative approach to pastoral mentorship through Hear Me Now Ministries and a YouTube channel.

By Clarise Nixon

Pages 28, 29

GLOBAL NEWS

The world takes note as Mikhail Gor bachev and Elizabeth II pass away.

Page 44

Developing the Best You, Now and in Retirement!

Let’s be real. Retirement can be fun and engaging but there are some unavoidable realities. Bottom line, inform yourself so that you can be savvy about those realities.

By Dr. Delbert W. Baker

Page 48

RV SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMENTARY ACTIVATE: A Call to Serve Like Jesus

When we make service the heart beat of our activism, our commu

Read this fascinating account of how God forged alliances through evangelism including rich and poor, blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos, police and community leaders, Ad ventist leaders, Elder E.E. Cleveland and the Black Panthers that stand to this day.

By Byron Dulan

Coverage coordinated by Dr. Bryant Taylor

Page 54

GLOBAL NEWS

Pope Francis Apologies in Canada and the Indigenous People Respond

For generations, these people, especially their children, suffered greatly at the hands of Catholic boarding schools that sought to erase their heritage. The pope came

Page

56 NEWS BRIEF

The Rayshard Brooks Outcome in Atlanta

Yet another police officer shot and killed yet another black man after yet another struggle, this time in an Atlanta fast food parking lot. Read about the judgment.

Page 57

CORONA Stats

The U.S. death count has crossed the 1 Million mark plus tens of thousands. The variants continue.

In some areas COVID cases and hospitalizations are still on the rise. Fall is here. Winter is coming. The cold brings its own challenges. We can go back to work, meetings and school. We still need good hygiene and to stay masked and sheltered when necessary. Remember, take vaccines and boosters as your health allows.

Page 60

HOPE SERIES

Adventist Volunteers Respond to Historic Kentucky Floods

Disaster struck residents in Ken tucky during catastrophic flooding in July 2022. More than 100 Adventist volunteers responded, including high school students.

By Benia Jennings

In the past, the Executive Vice President position was held by older pastors in the ministry. This year however, three young pastors were voted into office as Executive Vice Presidents.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS

BY JOSEPH HYDE

IIn the past few years, COVID-19 has affected Regional Conferences in many ways. The pandemic delayed many constituency meetings. Several conferences moved their meetings to 2022 in an effort to meet under safer circumstances. Constituency meetings also bring opportunities for delegates to bring changes to their conferences. During these meetings, three prominent positions are always voted upon: the President, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This year historical changes have been made in several Regional Conferences. In the past, the Executive Vice President position was held by older pastors in the ministry. This year, however, three young pastors were voted into office as Executive Vice Presidents. When the South Central Conference held its constituency meeting on July 25, in Huntsville, Ala bama, Dr. Vandeon Griffin was elected the Executive Vice President.

Pastor Griffin is a native of Green ville, Mississippi, where he attended T. L. Weston High School. During his time as a teenager, he was active in his church. Dr. Griffin participat ed in health and temperance as well as many other activities. He was also asked to preach for a youth federation. After graduating from high school, God called him into the ministry.

He attended Oakwood University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. After serving multiple years at South Central Conference Pastor Griffin completed his Master of Divinity degree at Andrews Uni versity. Most recently he completed his Doctor of Ministry Degree in Or ganizational Leadership

from Andrews University.

He is married to the former Kim berly Tinson and together they have one daughter, Kalin K. Griffin.

Dr. Griffin served as the Youth Director of South Central Confer ence for 10 years and President of

the Black Adventist Youth Director Association (BAYDA), for seven and a half years. After working in South Central, Dr. Griffin served as the Associate Youth and Young Adult Director for the North American Division, based in Columbia, Mary

Left to right: Dr. Abraham Henry, Dr. Vandeon Griffin, Pastor Pierre François

South Central Conference Office, Nashville, Tennesse

land. Dr. Griffin has served 21 years in the ministry. After accepting the role of Exec utive Vice President, he stated that “walk ing alongside leaders to make a difference is what makes him most excited about his new position.”

During the April 24, 2022 constituency meeting for Southeastern Conference, an other young minister was elected Execu tive Vice President. Pastor Pierre François was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. At a very young age, he was in volved in his church. He began preaching at the age of 14. Pastor Francois has a pas sion for music. At 15 he was directing the church choir. His appetite for ministry led him to become a pastor.

After graduating from high school, Pastor François attended the University of Florida where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Develop ment. He later went on to attend Andrews University where he earned his Master of Divinity degree. He also completed a Master of Business Administration degree from Nova Southeastern University and certification as a Project Management Professional.

During his life’s journey he married the former Erica Norton. The Lord has blessed their union with two children, Nathan, 13, and Morgan, 7.

Pastor François has been serving in the ministry for 17 years. He has served as the Sabbath School Director and as Children’s Ministry Director. After learning that he was elected Executive Vice President, Pas tor François stated that being asked to be in this position was humbling and surreal. “I have a chance to make a difference on big issues,” he stated. When asked what makes him most excited about his new po sition, Pastor François said, “I feel like we have an opportunity to move the ministry forward in a way we never have before.”

The third young pastor covered here, Dr. Abraham Henry, was elected Executive Vice President for the Lake Region Con ference on July 17. Dr. Henry is a native of Brooklyn, New York, where he attended Midwood High School. His passion for ministry began to grow from a young age. When he was just at the age of 9, he was asked to preach for Children’s Sabbath. This sparked a fire within him. Later, at age 15, he orchestrated and preached for his first tent meeting. As a result of this tent meeting, 43 souls were baptized into the kingdom of God. The next year he was ordained as an elder in his local church.

Dr. Henry attended Oakwood Uni

versity where he studied theology. He returned home to New York to complete his undergraduate degree at City College of New York where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. After completing his undergraduate studies, he went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University and later his Doctor of Ministry Degree in Strategic Leadership from the Claremont School of Theology.

He is married to Rebecca, the love of his life. They are passionate about serving together.

Dr. Henry has been in the ministry since 2014. He served as Youth Director for three years at the Lake Region Con

the gospel work. It will be equally excit ing to see how God will continue moving throughout their respective ministries. “Where there is no vision, the people per ish” (Proverbs 29:18, KJV). t

(Proverbs 29:18, KJV)

Joseph Hyde is the ORCM Communications Director.

It is exciting to see the young generation being entrusted to leadership in the church, to further the gospel work. It will be equally exciting to see how God will continue moving throughout their respective ministries. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

DR. ABRAHAM HENRY DR. VANDEON GRIFFIN

PASTOR PIERRE FRANÇOIS

BLACK CAUCUS MEETS IN PERSON—FIRST TIME IN THREE YEARS

BY DANA C. EDMOND

TThe Office for Regional Conference Ministries (ORCM) organized the first fully in-person meeting of the North American Division (NAD) Regional Black Caucus since 2019.

The NAD Black Caucus is the meeting of all African American conference presidents, conference secretaries, (known in some conferences as executive vice presidents or vice presidents for administration), and conference treasurers, (known in some conferences as vice presidents for finance or chief financial officers), and their Afri can-American counterparts serving in State Conferences, Union Conferences and in the North American Division. African-Americans serving in the General Conference are invited as well.

The West Coast is represented by the West Coast Black Administrators Caucus (WCBAC) and is led by the Vice Presidents for Regional Affairs in the North Pacific and Pacific Unions. They were fully represented at this meeting.

Also, the North American Division Executive Offi cers—the president, the secretary and the treasurer—met with the Regional Conference Presidents Council at this meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to lay plans for the work among Regional Conferences and people of color in the United States and Bermuda. In addition to the morning devotion time and the general meetings, there were sepa rate breakout meetings for the conference presidents, the secretaries and treasurers.

Over the years, other groups have been added to the Black Caucus meetings. There are caucuses involving the following groups:

Ministerial Directors

Pastors

Latinos Administrative Spouses

Young Adults (The caucus is known as “Next Gen.”)

The last time the full Black Caucus met in person was in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2019. The pandemic forced

a completely virtual meeting in 2020. A hybrid meeting, in-person with a virtual option, involved only the Regional Conference administrators in 2021, in Orlando, Florida. A fully in-person meeting was held in Orlando this year.

Not all of the caucuses met this time but the plan is for a full Black Caucus meeting for 2023, in Kan sas City, Missouri.

It is ORCM’s responsibility to plan the logistics of the Black Caucus sessions—the location, the hotel, the meeting schedule, the agenda items for discussion, the meals and, in the age of COVID, the safety precautions.

In a previous meeting of the Re gional Conference administrators during the pandemic, evidence of a negative COVID test no more

than three days prior to arrival was required for each attendee. This time, the requirements were simply to wear a mask and take a temperature reading daily.

The attendees were blessed by powerful devotions each morning by the following individuals:

Dr. Sherwin Jack, Senior Pastor, Atlanta Berean SDA Church; Dr. Delbert Baker, Research and Development Director, Regional Conference Retirement Plan (RCRP), and Elder Jason North, Executive Secretary, Southwest Region Conference.

A traditional feature of the Black Caucus sessions is the dedicatory prayer for those who have accepted administrative responsibilities in Regional Conferences since the time of the last meeting. The

incumbent administrators surrounded six new conference administrators, plus some new departmental leaders. They laid hands on them and prayed for them in their new responsibilities.

Both the RCRP and ORCM Boards met, as is the practice at Black Caucus. The ORCM Board Meeting was the final item of business for the 2022 Black Caucus and included reports from the various caucus es.

At the close of the ORCM Board meet ing, a survey from ORCM was distributed to the attendees to assist ORCM in their facilitation of the 2023 Black Caucus in Kansas City, Missouri. t

Dana C. Edmond, Director of the Office for Regional Con ference Ministry (ORCM), is also the publisher of Regional Voice magazine.

NAD President G. Alexander Bryant, center, and ORCM Director Dana Edmond, left, meet with Regional Conference administrators:

Regional Conference Treasurers continue their session

Leaders attending the 2022 Black Caucus sessions

LAKE REGION CONFERENCE DELEGATES ELECT

OFFICERS

President Garth Gabriel made this pledge to the delegates:

integrity

REPORTED BY JeNEAN LENDOR

DDelegates of Lake Region Conference of Seventh-day Adventists convened to con duct business for the 29th Quadrennial Session, which took place on Sunday, July 17, 2022, at the Howard Performing Arts Center on the campus of Andrews Univer sity in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

The meeting began with a powerful devotional message delivered by guest speaker, Pastor Emil Peeler of the Allegheny East Conference. The nominating committee report was chaired by Elder Ken Denslow, President of Lake Union Conference. Elder Elden Ramirez, Executive Secretary of the Lake Union Conference, immediately followed to chair the constituency session. Reports were received and several amendments to the constitution and bylaws were made.At the conclusion of the reports given by the Lake Region Conference administrators and the results of nominating committee, voting took place. Upon receiving the nomination and the overwhelming supportive vote of the  delegates, Elder Gabriel addressed the del egates by saying, “We will work diligently with honesty and integrity to serve you as best as we can, with God’s grace.”

Another unprecedented yet highly supported vote was that of Dr. Abraham Henry, the first millennial to serve as Executive Secretary in the Lake Union Conference and most recent millennial to be elected as an administrator among the Regional Conferences. Dr. Abraham has previously served as the Youth Director and Associate Executive Secretary of the Lake Region Conference.

Following his nomination and vote, Dr. Henry expressed these words: “I am grateful to God and the constituents of Lake Region Conference to be entrusted with this great responsibility. I am humbled to serve in this capacity and it is my hope to serve with humility and excellence. Most of all it is my privilege to work alongside Elder Garth Gabriel, one of the most tremendous and innovative leaders of our time.”

The business session was officially adjourned at 5:47 p.m. The list of newly elected officers is as follows:

ADMINISTRATORS

President - Garth Gabriel

Executive Secretary - Abraham Henry Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer –Yolanda Stonewall

Vice President for Multilingual Ministries –Eduardo Allen

DEPARTMENTAL DIRECTORS

Adventist Community Services - Debra Davis-Moody

Adult Ministries - Darlene Thomas

Communication – JeNean Lendor

Children’s Ministries - Janelle Strong

*Education Superintendent - Deirdre Garnett (appointed by the newly formed Executive Committee)

Family Ministries - David and Beverly Sedlacek

Health Ministries - Christina Wells

Inner City Ministries - Claval Hunter

Media Ministries  - Paul Young

Men’s Ministries - Farai Nhiwatiwa

Ministerial - Kenneth Elliott

Prison Ministries - Christopher Clark

Public Affairs & Religious LibertyEdward Woods, III

Stewardship Director - Nikolai Greaves

Women’s Ministries - Tricia Wynn Payne

Youth Director - Earl Baldwin, Jr. Associate Youth Director – James Doggette, Jr. t

JeNean Lendor is Commu nication Director of the Lake Region Conference of Sev enth-day Adventists.

Lake Region Conference Office, Mokena, Illinois

“We will work diligently with honesty and

to serve you as best as we can, with God’s grace.”

Garth Gabriel President

Abraham Henry Executive Secretary

Yolanda Stonewall Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

SOUTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE 2022 CONSTITUENCY REPORT

BY DANA C. EDMOND

Approximately 800 delegates met at the Oakwood University Church for the Fifth Quinquennial Session of the South Central Conference on July 24, 2022.

EElder Roger Bernard, President, Cen tral States Conference, brought the devotional message. Then delegates began addressing the business of the day. They voted to take the unprece dented step of suspending the rules to allow for the submission of up to three names for the office of confer ence president.

The Nominating Committee brought three names and after the votes were cast, Elder Benjamin Jones was re-elected for a second term as president. President Jones— who is the eighth to hold this office in the 76-year history of the conference—has served South Central for 51 years.

The delegates then addressed the other two administrative positions. They elected Dr. Vandeon Griffin, the Associate Youth Director for the North American Division and who had served previously as a pastor and a departmental director for the conference, as Executive Secretary. They re-elected Mrs. Sonja M. Cray ton as Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer.

We wish President Jones and his team God’s blessings as they lead His people in this quinquennium.

Some major constitutional chang es were also included in the business of the day: the Nominating Com mittee will now meet in advance of the conference session, and term limits for all conference elected officials other than the President and the Executive Secretary were removed. t

Dana C. Edmond, Director of the Office for Regional Conference Ministry, (ORCM), is also publisher of Regional Voice Magazine.

South Central Departmental Leaders and The Executive Committee

(Elected by the constituency)

Adventist Community Services

Barbara Barnes (Co-director)

Lillie Buckingham (Co-director)

Adventist Youth Ministries

Bryant Stewart

Adventist Youth Ministries Associate

Gabriel Agramonte

Church Ministries & Mission Development

Furman Fordham II

Church Ministries & Mission Development Associate

Jeffrey Watson

Communications & Public Relations

Roger R. Wade

Family Health Education Services (FHES)/ Publishing

Dimitri Scavella

Education Superintendent

Summer Wood

Ministerial Is this title missing a word?

Kennedy Luckett

Ministerial Associates

Toussaint Williams

Cristian Borbon

Izean Celeve

Multicultural Ministries

Cristian Borbon

National Service Organization (NSO)

Bryant Stewart

Executive Committee:

Benjamin Jones, Jr. – President

Vandeon Griffin – Executive Secretary

Sonja Crayton – Chief Financial Officer

Debleaire Snell – North Alabama

Malcolm Taylor – North Alabama

Jennifer Patterson – North Alabama

Benita Mosley – Central Alabama

Leroy Abrahams – Central Alabama

William Abernathy – Alabama

Antonio Tinsley – Florida

Jacques Francois – Kentucky

Jimeshia Smith - Mississippi

Mark Hyde - Mississippi

Michael Mickens - Mississippi

Colibri Jenkins - Mississippi

Renita Bonds - East Tennessee

Cory Bean - Mid Tennessee

Tina Carriger - Mid Tennessee

Cory Jackson – West Tennessee

Darrell Thomas – West Tennessee

Julia Rioz – Multi-Cultural

Dr. Leslie Pollard - Institutional

Roger Wade - Departmental

Peter Hunter

George Seay

Dr. Vandeon Griffin Executive Secretary

Sonja M. Crayton Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer

Benjamin Jones President

SOUTH ATANTIC CONFERENCE DELEGATES ELECT NEW PRESIDENT; MAKE CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

DDelegates numbering almost 900 gathered at the South Atlantic Conference camp ground in Orangeburg, South Carolina for its 26th Quinquennial Session on Septem ber 11, 2022.

Those delegates elected Elder Calvin B. Preston as President of the 55,000 member conference, which is headquartered in De catur, Georgia.

Elder Preston has spent all of his 47-year ministry in the South Atlantic Confer ence, serving as a pastor, Ministerial Director, Conference Executive Secretary and most recently, as the General Vice President.

He succeeds Elder William L. Winston, who served for two terms as the president of South Atlantic, after serving one term as its Executive Secretary.

The two other administrative officers, Elders David Smith and Merkita Mos ley, were re-elected to their previous positions—albeit with constitutionally changed titles. Elder Smith is now Execu tive Vice President (formerly Conference Executive Secretary) and Elder Mosley is now the Chief Financial Officer (formerly Conference Treasurer).

Those changes were part of a number of constitutional changes approved by the delegates. Others included:

The convening of the Organizing Com mittee and the Nominating Committee in advance of the session.

The ability of the Executive Committee to call for a virtual conference session (in the event of another pandemic or some

such other extraordinary event).

The requirement that in the event of a vote to dissolve the Conference, such a vote could only be done by a two-thirds majority of the elected delegates. While such a vote is highly unlikely, the fact is that without this vote a rogue group of delegates could wait until the very end of a session, at a time when most of the dele gates have gone home, and vote to dissolve the Conference. That could be done with a very small group of people if the disso lution requirement continued to be two thirds of the delegates who were voting. It is not uncommon for sessions to end with fewer than 100 people remaining. That would mean that 70 people or fewer could close down the Conference. Not so any more.

Elected as General Vice President, to fill the vacancy caused by the election of President Preston, was Dr. Everton Ennis. Mrs. Kim Gaiter was re-elected as Vice President for Education.

Listed below are those elected to serve as departmental directors for the upcom ing quinquennium:

Community Service/Inner City/ASI

Joshua Nelson

General Vice President/Religious

Liberty

Everton Ennis

Vice President for Education

Kim Gaiter

Adventist Book Center

Sylvia Coleman Health Ministries

Richard Berry

Human Resources/Communication

James Lamb

Korean Ministries

Don Kim

Ministerial Evangelism/Stewardship

Allen Baldwin

National Service Organization

Monte Newbill

Personal Ministries/Prison Ministries

Frank Harrell

Safety Office

Sabbath School/Children’s Ministries

Darryl Howard

Senior Ministries

Ralph Peay

Trust Services Associate

Dominique Best

Women’s Ministries

April Smith

Youth/Young Adults

John Newlove

Calvin B. Preston President

David Smith Executive Vice President

Merkita Moseley Chief Financial Officer

South Atlantic Conference Office, Decatur, Georgia

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM JULES CONDUCTS TENT MEETING: LEADS NORTHEASTERN IN AN "EVANGELISTIC RE-SET"

BY DANA C. EDMOND

WWho says public evangelism is dead? Not Northeastern Conference President, Dr. Abraham Jules, and not those in the Northeastern territory.

President Jules budgeted approximately $2 million for evangelism in 2022. To put that into perspective, there is one conference in the North American Division whose tithe for the entire year was $2 million. This year, Northeastern will spend what that entire conference took in last year, on evangelism. This is an enormous investment.

Making this investment is doing the ex act thing that churches exist to do—take the gospel to people who have not heard it yet.

When Dr. Jules was elected president of the Northeastern Conference one year ago, he came directly to the presidency as senior pastor of a large church. For 38 years as a pastor, he had conducted public evangelism—even during COVID 19. The doors of his church were closed then but the baptismal pool was open. All told, nearly 40 people were added to church membership during Dr. Jules’ virtual meeting.

When he became president, he saw no reason to change his emphasis on evan gelism. “It’s who I am,” he said. And that’s who he wanted the pastors and laity of Northeastern to become—fishers of men.

Upon his arrival as the chief execu tive of Northeastern, he was aware that there was a generation of preachers—in Northeastern and elsewhere—who had not conducted much public evangelism. The Lord impressed him to round up a group of seasoned evangelists, from inside and outside the United States, to model evangelism.

From the North American Division came Vice President Calvin Watkins. From the Southern Union came Northeastern native son, President Ron Smith. From Oakwood University came Dr. Jesse L. Wilson. From Southeastern Conference came Dr. Ruppert Bushner. From outside the United States came President Glenn Samuels (West Jamaica Conference), Elder Claudius Morgan ( Evangelist, Caribbean Union) and Elder Carlos Blake (Panama). Altogether, there will be approximately 70 public meetings conducted by outside evangelists and the Northeastern pastors. Some places had not had much evange listic success in years, like Staten Island in New York, as mentioned by President Jules. But the Lord used Pastor Marty Var gas, an Italian pastor in Northeastern, to “launch out into the deep.” And Dr. Jules reported a record for baptisms in Staten Island: 40 souls.

President Jules was not content to mere ly inspire and direct others in evangelism;

he went to Brooklyn and pitched a tent. The administrative duties attached to leading the largest Regional Conferences and one of the largest conferences in the North American Division did not go away because President Jules was doing evange lism. The normal round of meetings and appointments continued.

Notwithstanding that, President Jules preached five nights per week, for five weeks. By the end of this campaign, 154 individuals were added to God’s remnant church.

From the 14 area meetings, already 1,000 plus people have been baptized. That total does not include the 52 church meetings. Dr. Jules said that he did not have a numerical goal for this evangelistic thrust. He said he just wanted God’s peo ple to be faithful and he would be content to leave the results to God.

He plans to repeat this process again next year. He plans to pitch his tent in Harlem. Public evangelism lives! t

Dana C. Edmond, Director of the Office for Regional Con ference Ministry (ORCM), is also the publisher of Regional Voice Magazine.

Marty Vargas Calvin Watkins Dr. Ron Smith Dr. Jesse Wilson

Dr. Rupert Bushner

Glenn Samuels Claudius Morgan

ELDER R. STEVEN NORMAN PASTOR, COMMUNICATOR, MENTOR

BY KYNA HINSON

PPastor R. Steven Norman III, has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for more than 49 years as a pastor and as a conference and union departmental di rector. However, he was answering God’s call to ministry before he even completed his college work. During his freshman and sophomore years, “I ran two weekly Story Hour programs [in Huntsville, Al abama]. One was in the Northwoods De velopment Project off University Avenue; the other was the Mason Court Project near Holmes Avenue. Many Oakwood students participated and taught scores of children about the Bible.”

As a student, Norman also gave God his vacation time. He recalled that for two summers he “served as a Bible worker for Pastor Michael Bernard,” and “helped establish the Pell City Church where he and his wife, Mrs. Carita Bernard, and I had 27 baptisms.” He also “worked in Knoxville, Tennessee, and had numerous baptisms.” During his “junior and senior years of college,” Norman became a “student pastor of the Pell City Church,” which he had helped to evangelize.

He also practiced diligence in his studies and “graduated from Oakwood College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology, with minors in biblical languages and history, in July 1973.” He continued his work ethic as a “student pastor in Battle Creek, Michigan, while in seminary.”

He even expanded beyond the nation al boundaries when he “participated in Elder James C. Palmer’s Evangelistic Field School in Kingston, Jamaica, during the

summer of 1975.” Pastor Norman then “graduated from Andrews Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity de gree in May 1976.”

His first assignment was to serve as “as sistant pastor with Elder Murray Joiner,” where he “learned some valuable princi ples that helped me all during my min istry.” His assignment before retirement was to serve as Director of Communi cation and Editor of the Southern Tid ings for the Southern Union Conference in Atlanta, Georgia; a post he held for 15 years, until September 19, 2022. His rich and varied ministry is highlighted here.

* * *

Pastor R. Steven Norman III, is married to Elaine Humphreys Norman. They have two adult children, daughter, Gianna Snell, and son, Steven. Their daughter, Gianna, is married to Pastor Debleaire Snell, and they have three children: Jadon, Brooke, and Braydon

Snell. Pastor Snell is the new pastor and Mrs. Snell is the first lady of the Oak wood University Church. Pastor Snell is also Speaker/Director for Breath of Life Television Ministries and Gianna is the Communication Director for Breath of Life. Their son, R. Steven Norman IV, is married to Lenora Ahiatsi. Steven is a rehab instructor for the blind at the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center. Lenora is the auditor for the South Central Conference.

In “retirement” Elder Norman will keep writing, keep conducting historical research, keep shooting photos and keep mentoring. His legacy deserves separate coverage—and that is a real possibility. The “half has not been told,” literally. t

ROLES IN MINISTRY

Assistant Pastor to Elder Murray Joiner

January to July 1976

Birmingham Ephesus Church, Birmingham, Alabama Pastor

The Selma, Alabama District July 1976 to March 1982

(Selma, Greenville, Atmore and Thomasville)

Conducted a Tent Meeting in Selma, and a Storefront Meeting in Thomasville

Organized the First SDA Church of Thomasville Renovated the Atmore and Selma Churches and Began construction of the Thomasville Church

Also established the Temple Gate Elementary School

The Meridian, Mississippi District March 1982 to July 1985 (Meridian, Laurel, and Soso)

Held Evangelistic meeting in Laurel, from which we Organized the First Sylvarena Church Liquidated Mortgage on the Soso Church.

Paid off and Burned Mortgage of the Macedonia Church in Laurel

The Hattiesburg, Mississippi District July 1985 to July 1987

(Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Columbia)

Conducted a Revelation Seminar in Columbia

Baptized County, Police and Community Leaders

Stabilized Hattiesburg financially Baptized equal numbers in both churches

The Nashville New Life and Springfield, Tennessee District July 1987 to 1997

Opened New Life Food Bank which became the third largest in Davidson County

Offered services: Job Locator service to help clients get civil service jobs; Resume Service, Diaper service; Voter Registration

Sent barrels of tennis shoes to Gitwe Adventist College and to South Africa to support the Anti-Apartheid marchers

Conducted evangelistic meetings in Springfield with Elder H. L. Cleveland, and two meetings in Nashville with Elder Earl Cleveland More than 230 persons were baptized.

Developed innovative Children’s Chapel Ministry to teach the major doctrines. More than 100 children accepted Christ More than 70 baptisms as a result

Established Housing Ministry with James Jarrett to help families faced with foreclosure, eviction, or who were in abusive relationships. This ministry placed or saved the homes of 165 families between 1991 and 2000 at no charge.

South Central Conference 1990 to 2007

Director of Archives and History Served as Director of Archives and History

Established the South Central Conference Archives in 1991.

Communication Director

Elected Communication Director in 1991, and served until 2005.

Southern Union Conference 2007 to 2022

Communication Director

Editor, the Southern Tidings Southern Tidings

Automated editorial, design, and production for print and web magazines.

Mentored many young designers and communicators Produced the iPad version of Southern Tidings.

Reduced annual production costs of publication during the first two years by $250K

Equipped pastors for virtual evangelism and ministry during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Completed photography assignments throughout the Southern Union and El Salvador, Spain, Italy, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Curacao, England, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Petra, Israel, Jordan, Canada, and Ghana.

Developed the Southern Tidings Pathfinder trading pin

Sponsored a photojournalism learning center at the Chosen International Pathfinder Camporee, allowing scores of Pathfinders to learn photography and news writing from journalism majors from Oakwood and Southern Adventist Universities.

Sponsored the Journalism Boot Camp for High School Students held at Southern Adventist University.

Supported the Society of Adventist Communicators from 1991 until the present by Sponsoring students from Oakwood and Southern for atten dance with financial subsidies.

Member, Advisory Committee for the Southern Adventist University School of Journalism.

Developed the Seventh-day Adventist Clergy and Educator Memorial Medallions of Honor.

Kyna Hinson is Editor of Regional Voice magazine.

DR. JOHN NIXON: A 45-YEAR JOURNEY THROUGH MINISTRY

BY CLARISE NIXON

G“Good evening, everybody, and welcome to another Friday Night Live of Hear Me Now Ministries where we are dedicated to building up the next generation of preach ers.”

The voice is familiar. It’s Dr. John Nixon Sr., newly retired and completely in his element. A sound clip of applause plays and he jokingly raises his hands in feigned protest. “Enough, enough.”

His wife, Januwoina (pronounced juhVO-nuh)—partner in love, ministry and yes, silliness—sits next to him as he’s do ing what he’s wanted to do for years but hasn’t until now had the opportunity to do—pastoral mentorship through Hear Me Now Ministries and a YouTube chan nel.

His 45-year career includes serving in six conferences (three regional, three state), ten churches (including two univer sity churches), and six states. He learned countless life lessons during his ministry, some lessons harder learned than others. These lessons are part of what fuel his passion for pastoral mentorship today.

His career began in 1976 at Ephesus SDA church in New York, New York. After graduating from Oakwood College (now University) with a bachelor’s degree in Theology, he and Januwoina began their life together in the largest church in the Northeastern Conference; Nixon was hired as the youth pastor under the men torship of Pastor Edwin Humphrey.

“I learned almost everything [about ministry during my four years at Ephesus] and here’s why: Ephesus was a very large and diverse church. I never encountered anything in my ministry that I hadn’t en countered at Ephesus.”

Administration, funerals, weddings, baby blessings, crusades, baptisms,

preaching, crises—with guid ance from Pastor Humphrey, Nixon experienced everything he could possibly experience while at his very first pastoral post. These years would prove to be pivotal throughout his ministry.

In 1980, John moved his young family (he had two young sons at this point, John II and Paul) to Berea SDA Church in Dorchester, Mas sachusetts. This was the first church he pastored that also had a school, which was at the time in the same building as the church.

One year into his service at Berea, tragedy struck.

“I was leaving my office one day, and this woman comes running down the street yell ing, ‘Fire! Fire!’ I looked up and the roof [of the church] is on fire.”

The principal, Donald Vanterpool, rang the fire alarm, then he and Nixon started running from floor to floor, in hallways, classrooms and bathrooms, getting all the students and teachers out of the building to safety.

“We stood out on the sidewalk and watched the building burn. And I never thought it would be so emotional. We . . watched that church burn.”

Soon after, the Berea community, under the leadership of Nixon and school admin istration, bought and renovated another building in Mattapan, Massachusetts, where Berea Academy still stands.

After five years at Berea, the Nixons— now a family of five with the addition of their youngest child, Clarise—moved to

Hanson Place SDA Church in Brooklyn, New York.

Hanson Place, Nixon recalls, was a “really great place to preach because the people loved preaching. They were a very responsive [congregation].”

Then the family moved to Southern California in 1987. From 1987 to 1992, Nix on pastored two churches: Pacoima SDA Church (now called Valley Crossroads) and Berea SDA Church, both in Los Ange les. He also served as the VP of Southern California Conference while he pastored Berea.

Two significant occurrences happened during this time: the conference reorga nized by geography (as opposed to by race); then came the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots.

Referencing the conference reorgani

zation, Nixon says, “When we went there, each racial group had their own group of churches and their own vice president, whom they called ‘coordinator’ at the time. So you had a black coordinator, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc. That year, they decided to reorganize the conference by geography without regard to race, and that’s when I became vice president. I had the San Gabriel Valley churches; about 32 churches, all mixed, all races.”

Part of the job description was visiting each church at least once a year, and this is where Nixon learned how to preach through translators.

“We had a Chinese church, Indonesian, Japanese, Hispanic, Korean, Filipino, and of course black and white churches, too.”

The other significant occurrence erupt ed in April and May of 1992. When four LAPD police officers were acquitted after being charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, there were several days of riots in Los An geles.

Berea SDA church, where Nixon was pa storing at the time, was in South Central LA, in the riot zone. Though the church didn’t get damaged, some stores and busi nesses of church members were destroyed.

The [area] was in shambles. We lived in South Pasadena, but we could see the smoke from home during that riot. We went there afterward and helped with the cleanup. Everybody was in church [follow ing the riots].”

* * *

There are countless other vivid expe riences that Nixon recalls throughout his ministry, and one thing is quite clear when you talk to him: even though he’s now retired, he still has a passion for preaching. His focus now is using that passion to mentor the next generation of pastors through his organization, Hear Me Now Ministries.

Other than his work with Hear Me Now Ministries, Nixon plans to author several books in retirement, including a revised edition of Redemption in Genesis and a book on how to teach sexuality in the classroom. He also wants to spend some time traveling and doing prison ministry with Januwoina, visiting with his three grandchildren—John III, Julia, and Theodore—practicing his chess skills, and learning the guitar.

You may listen to Dr. Nixon on his Fri day Night Live weekly video podcast at HearMeNowMinistries.com. t

Clarise Nixon is Associate Professor of English at South ern Adventist University, copyeditor for Regional Voice magazine, and co-founder

of CP Nix where she co-authored with her brother, Paul, the book God Is A Person: Discovering God for Yourself.

DR. NIXON’S MINISTRY

Youth Pastor Ephesus SDA Church New York, New York 1976 – 1979

Senior Pastor 1979 - 1980

Senior Pastor Berea SDA Church Dorchester, 1980 – 1985 Berea SDA Church School Massachusetts

Senior Pastor Hanson Place SDA Church Brooklyn, New York 1985 – 1987

Senior Pastor Pacoima SDA Church Los Angeles, California

Senior Pastor Berea SDA Church Los Angeles, California Vice President Southern California Conference 1987 - 1992

Senior Pastor College Church South Lancaster, 1992 – 1996 (church of now closed Massachusetts Atlantic Union College)

Senior Pastor Capitol Hill SDA Church Washington, D.C. 1996 – 1997

Senior Pastor Oakwood College Church Huntsville, Alabama 1997 - 2006 (now Oakwood University Church)

Senior Pastor Collegedale Church Collegedale, Tennessee 2006 - 2010 (church of Southern Adventist University)

Professor/Author School of Religion 2010 – 2016 Southern Adventist University Redemption in Genesis: The Crossroads of Faith and Reason

Executive Secretary South Central Conference Headquarters 2016 – 2021 Nashville, Tennessee

Speaker/Director/ HearMeNowMinistries.com Video Podcast Mentor 2021 to Present You Tube Channel

Hear Me Now focuses on mentoring younger pastors. “I’ve wanted to mentor young pastors for years, but I never had the opportunity to do it the way I wanted,” he says.

His vision is for Hear Me Now to offer not only mentorship, but also classes and other resources that pastors can use to strengthen their ministry. “I want to help the next generation of preachers. It focuses on preaching, but it reaches beyond preaching—it’s about growing your ministry.” When asked what advice he can share with young preachers right now, he responded, “The most important thing about the pastorate is biblical preaching. If you do that, everything else becomes easier once you establish a biblical, spiritual pulpit.”

HOW MIKHAIL GORBACHEV CHANGED THE WORLD

1931 - 2022

MMikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union un til it was dissolved in 1991. He was born March 2, 1931, into a peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage and spent part of his youth working on a farm in the Marxist tradition.

He joined the Communist Par ty, the ruling party in the Soviet Union. He went on to study at Moscow State University, where he met fellow scholar Raisa Ti tarenko. He later earned a law degree and began to navigate his way through the ranks of the Communist Party.

Then things began to get interesting. Gorbachev grew up in Russia under the brutal, iron-fisted leadership of Joseph Stalin.

When Stalin died and the next Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, presented poli cies that reformed the brutality, the young Gorbachev embraced them. Still, this new leader was “hard core.”

Khrushchev brought the world to the brink of nuclear war when he sent mis siles to Cuba in 1962, aiming them at the United States, less than 100 miles away. Khrushchev’s plan was to intimidate the young American President John Ken nedy. The aggressive move didn’t work. Kennedy chose a tough, defensive stance.

After 15 heart-stopping days, Khrushchev “blinked” and removed his missiles.

Though Gorbachev was a Communist, he did not like this brand of “brinksman ship,” tucking away the lessons he learned.

By 1985 he had made his way to the elite inner circles with sure steps, and was elected General Secretary of the Commu nist Party of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev’s new style would change global dynamics forever. Although he meant it as a label for domestic policy, the term glasnost, translated “openness,” caught the world’s imagination and went viral. He opened the door for more free

dom of speech and press.

His perestroika, translated “restruc turing,” went after internal economic strangleholds that blocked efficiency. He certainly did not like endangering his country or the world as he noted the horrible, fatal disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 1986, and his country’s clandestine response. By 1988 he stood as his nation’s official Head of State, and act ed accordingly.

He vigorously participated in summit talks with U.S. President Ronald Reagan on nuclear disarmament and ending the Cold War. After fighting a quagmire of a war in Afghanistan for nearly 10 years,

Gorbachev pulled out Russian troops in 1989. He also allowed symbolic and literal cracks in the Berlin Wall to run their course to complete destruction.

Although he still embraced Communism, other nations in the Soviet bloc did not and broke away from the union. Gorbachev did not pursue them with the old iron fist tech niques, and this was more than party hardliners could abide. By 1991 they staged a coup, but the leader, now President Gor bachev, successfully put it down. However the Soviet Union, liter ally on its last legs through this turmoil, collapsed. Gorbachev did not want this. His policies could not work to their fullest in the So viet Union. So when he could not revive it, he resigned. That same year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was more respected globally than in his home country.

He remained in Russia, often function ing as a critic of his successors and some of their policies.

His current successor, Vladimir Putin, lives in marked contrast to Gorbachev. Putin, a former KGB officer (Soviet police), was on duty in Berlin and watched the wall come down with anger and dismay. From then on, Putin has made it his mission to rebuild the Soviet Union with glory—hence the current situation in Ukraine. After the former president died at 91 on August 24, 2022, President Vladimir Putin made his final visit—to Mikhail Gorbachev‘s open casket. t

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

1926 - 2022

TThe crown was not some thing this monarch sought. When her uncle, King Ed ward VIII famously abdi cated the throne for Wallis Simpson, “the woman I love,” the House of Windsor was forever changed. The British Empire’s line of succession moved to her father, King George VI, in 1936, when Eliz abeth was 10. Fifteen years later, her father died while she and her husband Philip were visiting Kenya. At 25, in 1952, she returned to England as Queen Elizabeth II.

She was born in London, April 21, 1926, but loved the country life at Balmoral Cas tle in Scotland. When she turned 21 in 1947, she made this pledge to those in the kingdom: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Queen Elizabeth II would surpass all other British reigns, including that of her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria’s span of 63 years. The Platinum Jubilee marking Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne came in the summer of 2022, just weeks before her death on September 8, 2022. Her death certificate list ed the cause as old age. She was 96.

At the end of her reign, her territory was vastly different than it had been in the beginning. India and Pakistan had already declared inde pendence from British rule during her father’s reign. The global British Empire evolved to the United Kingdom as many nations in Africa and island nations in the Caribbean gained their independence.

Facts for this article were compiled from histor ical research, network television interviews and coverage during the time of state visits to the present-day war in Ukraine, and first-hand ac counts of visitors to the Berlin Wall at the time period when it came down.

It is estimated that millions lined the streets to pay her final respects and that billions watched from around the world. Her processions trav eled from Balmoral Scotland, where she died, to Buckingham Palace in London, where she lay in state, to the St. George Chapel in Windsor Castle, where she was buried.

Queen Elizabeth II is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. t

Facts compiled from the British BBC and American PBS, ABC, CBS and NBC coverage on the life and death of Queen Elizabeth II.

DANIEL R. JACKSON

BY KIMBERLY LUSTE MARAN

OO n Sabbath morning, July 23, 2022, Daniel R. Jackson, former president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, passed to his rest after several months of battling cancer. He was 73. Jackson, who served the Adventist Church for 49 years, retired in July 2020 after serving as NAD president for a decade. As president, Jackson made many contri butions to the church in North America during his 10 years of service at the divi sion, including the building up of the NAD Ministerial Association; the creation of a missional strategic plan; and the addition of the Guam-Micronesia Mission, Oak wood University, Pacific Press Publishing Association, AdventSource, and Christian Record Services for the Blind.

In addition to the division moving to its own headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, in 2017, record tithe came in annually during Jackson’s tenure; almost 1,000 churches were planted; more than 300,000 people were baptized; and the legacy Adventist media ministries (Breath of Life, Faith For Today, It Is Written and Escrito Está, Jesus 101, La Voz de la Esperanza, Lifetalk Radio, and the Voice of Prophecy) found their own homes and identities. During this time, the number of women working as pastors and chap lains doubled; the Adventist Learning Community, a robust digital ministry re source, was created; both the Young Adult Life initiative and Big Data + Social Media department came to fruition; and the division started the magazine Adventist Journey.

Jackson was elected on June 28, 2010, by delegates of the world church at the Gen eral Conference Session in Atlanta, Geor gia, and reelected to this position on July 6, 2015, at the 60th General Conference Session held in San Antonio, Texas. The General Conference Session is the highest governing body in the Adventist Church.

Jackson was born December 17, 1948. A native Canadian, with the exception of

five years of service in the Southern Asia Division, he lived and minis tered in the North American Division.

He was a gradu ate of Canadian Union College (now Burman Univer sity) and Andrews University, from which he holds an M.A. in Religion in Systematic Theol ogy. Jackson is one of the authors of the book Becoming a Mission-Driven Church.

He was known for his love of mu sic, keen sense of humor, and mis sion-mindedness— all hallmarks of his ministry throughout the years.

During his career, Jackson served the church as a pastor, teacher, and adminis trator. But Jackson, who frequently started a talk or sermon reminding his audience that he was “a broken man in need of the Savior,” often said that foremost, he was a fellow traveler on the same path as every Christian headed toward the kingdom.

“Elder Dan Jackson was not only a fel low colleague in ministry, he was also a true friend and brother who demonstrated his faith in real and practical ways. Having served with him for 10 years I can say with authority that he was the genuine arti cle. It is no overstatement to say a giant among us has fallen,” said G. Alexander Bryant, current NAD president and suc cessor to Jackson.

Bryant continued, “He stood firmly on his convictions with courage and humility. He would often lend his voice to speak up

for the marginalized and the disenfran chised among us. He embodied the con cept of servant leadership; and he empow ered others around him and assisted them in striving for their God-given potential. This church has been tremendously bless ed by his ministry and is the better off be cause Elder Jackson walked among us.”

“Elder Jackson was such a godly man and a wonderful leader,” said Kyoshn Ahn, NAD executive secretary. “His kindness and courage inspired many members. His love for the church was infinite and un limited. He simply lived out the gospel he preached so passionately. God has im mensely blessed the church and the NAD with his leadership and service.”

Current NAD treasurer/CFO Ran dy Robinson said, “Elder Jackson had a passion for Jesus, for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and for the members of the North American Division. You could

not be around him for any length of time without recognizing each of those three passions. During his tenure, he led the church in North America forward as he depended on the grace of Jesus. He will be deeply missed!”

“When Dan was elected NAD president in 2010, I felt that he was the man of the hour and what we needed in leadership,” shared Thomas G. Evans, former treasurer/CFO who worked with Jackson for more than eight years at the division. “He lived his love for Christ and promoted it to those around him. He reminded all of us that we are broken and need the Lord.” One of the highlights of his tenure was the move of the NAD office from the GC in Silver Spring to Columbia, which continues to prove to be a blessing to the division.

Evans added, “Dan was also a family man. He loved Donna and his kids and extended family. He will be missed by all who knew him.” t

Kimberly Luste Maran is an associate director for the North American Division Office of Communication. An award-winning writer, she is primarily responsible for editing Adventist Journey magazine and NAD NewsPoints, the weekly e-newsletter of the division.

“I’M GONNA SING!” THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ELDER WALTER E. ARTIE S

1941-2022

EEveryone leaves a legacy. For Elder Walter Eugene Arties, III, that legacy was the gift of music that inspired and blessed millions around the globe. It was an extraordinary gift, crafted and perfected by an extraordinary singer. It was indeed a one-of-akind voice kissed by God.

Music was deeply embedded in Walter’s DNA since the time he was born on November 12, 1941 in Pittsburgh, Penn sylvania, the youngest and only son of three children born to Pastor Walter and Catherine Arties. As was customary for Seventh-day Adventist ministers’ families, their family was always on the move, but they ultimately settled in New York City. Young Walter exhibited high intellect and a special gift for singing, which his parents nurtured.

From an early age, he dedicated his exceptional voice to the glory of God and vowed, “I’m gonna sing!”—a mantra that be came the title of one of his popular recordings. With that sa cred resolve, Walter left the Big Apple at age 19 and head ed West to the city of his dreams, Los Angeles. There he fellowshipped at the University SDA Church in the early ‘60s. While he blessed many saints in the metropolis as a soloist, he equally enjoyed choral music—particularly ar ranging and directing spirituals and hymns in a fresh, new contempo rary genre.

This passion led him to form the ever-popular a cappella ensemble, the Walter Arties chorale, based at the University Church. The group concertized extensively and pro duced several albums—including one iconic collaboration with the late King of Gospel, Rev. James Cleveland. One of the chorale sing ers was the accomplished pianist, Myrna Matthews (now Haynes), who served as Walter’s exclusive accompanist on his solo tours.

They were musically and seamlessly inter twined, like hand in glove.

Over the next two decades, Walter’s pop ularity as a solo artist soared. As an iconic Christian vocal artist, Walter expressed the love of Jesus in his own inimitable style, warmth and charm. He combined rare musical artistry with a spiritual sensitivity seldom encountered. Every singer of note has a signature song, and Walter’s was, hands down, “All He Wants Is You.” Composer Audrey Mieir said Walter brought her song to life and vocally inter preted it far beyond her imagination. With smooth Johnny Mathis-style resonance, Walter was particularly gifted in phrasing and had the remarkable capacity to effort lessly sustain notes for several measures, to the delight and amazement of audiences.

In high demand globally, Walter toured most of the United States, the Caribbe an, parts of Europe and even the former Soviet Union. He was best known in the worldwide Adventist community, appear ing regularly at many convocations, camp meetings and national telecasts such as It Is Written. But his unique musical style

had cross-denominational as well as secular appeal. Walter was the featured artist at such events as Lutheran Youth Alive, Youth for Christ, the Cotton Bowl

and Campus Crusade for Christ’s Expo ’72 in Dallas, where he met renowned evangelist Billy Graham. Impressed with his vocal skill, Rev. Graham invited Walter

to sing at his massive crusades in Sweden and Finland. In the elite Christian music world, Walter collaborated with the very best, such as the legendary Ralph Carmi chael, and he was highly regarded. While he was accustomed to performing at large venues, Walter was never “too big” to sing for local worship services, weddings, funerals and other special occasions for friends and family.

While his “I’m Gonna Sing” resolve drove Walter’s musical witness, he felt an irrepressible burden and harbored a vision to evangelize people of color—particularly African Americans—more intentionally. That dream stemmed from his eye-wit ness recollection of the infamous Watts Riots. He strongly felt that it was time for the Adventist Church to pioneer the first coast-to-coast TV ministry for people of color by any faith community.

As a direct result of much “prayer, fast ing, counseling with church leaders (in cluding General Conference President Ne al C. Wilson), and ‘divine intervention,’” (Walter’s words), the Breath of Life telecast began in 1974. It aired from Newbury Park, California, with General Conference evangelist Charles D. Brooks serving as Speaker-Director. The BOL mission state ment was simple and targeted: “To present the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ to all people groups from a contemporary, urban perspective.”

“For nearly 50 years, Breath of Life has been a great blessing to people of all back grounds,” notes General Conference VP Maurice Valentine. “For people of color, it was revolutionary in many ways. It came into existence at a time when there were few TV shows depicting persons of color.”

Drawing from his operations at the KHOF Christian television station in Glendale, California, Walter served as BOL’s Executive Producer. To provide a consistent musical format to the pro gramming, Walter brought on renowned musical arranger Shelton E. Kilby, III, as Musical Director, and he organized the Breath of Life Quartet. Original singers Phillip Grayson, Clyde Allen, James Kyle and Walter faithfully performed on the telecasts and at concerts. Rounding out the original team was telecast Announcer Michael Connor.

Soon the quartet released its first, and iconic album, “Plenty Good Room.” Sheldon became a permanent quartet member when Phil left the group. The quartet went on to record “Spirituals,” and “Ghetto

Child.” Moreover, the telecast pro vided performance opportunities for black Adventist artists.

Over the ensuing 24 years, the ministry flourished under the Arties-Brooks leadership, which was expanded to include Elder Reginald Robinson as Associate Speaker. As an extension to the telecast, Breath of Life conducted many evangelistic campaigns throughout the United States, Bermuda and the Caribbean, which yielded more than 20,000 baptisms and untold numbers of spiritual recommitments. Breath of Life congregations (13 BOL churches) were also established. Under God’s anointing, as a result of the “ministry Walter built” side by side with Elder Brooks and lat er his successors Elder Walter L. Pearson and Dr. Carlton P. Byrd, and just recently Pastor Debleaire Snell, growth has continued. Un der Elder Pearson and Dr. Byrd, BOL evangelism yielded astonish ing results through God’s anoint ing—some 24,000 souls baptized combined—including Dr. Byrd’s massive 2020 evangelistic cam paign in Tanzania, which alone won 16,806 converts.

After passing on the BOL lead ership mantle, Walter quickly re alized that God was not through with him yet in ministry. He

continued to sing for Jesus and engage in denominational work. He retired twice, first in 2005 and again in 2013. Such a won derful legacy—a career spanning six de cades that blessed millions. But this is in complete if you overlook Walter’s personal attributes which endear him to so many: his friendliness and kindheartedness; his humble and gracious spirit; his good looks and charm; his wit and wisdom and, of course, his talent and creative genius! Moreover, the very thing that made life so meaningful for Walter was the deep love he felt for his family and everyone within his orbit. He was lovingly devoted to his wife of 58 years, Beverly DeShay Arties. They have been partners in every sense of the word, sharing in God’s col lective calling upon their lives. Beverly has been Walter’s rock and main source of support throughout his career. This great visionary took his last “breath of life” peacefully on the morning of June 26, 2022. But his legacy lives on through his recordings, the current quartet, BOL ministries and through the thriving churches planted by the ministry he started. Walter leaves to treasure this legacy his beloved wife Beverly and two nieces, Ethelda and Arlene Dyer, as well as a loving extended family, and many cherished colleagues and friends in the household of faith.

Longtime friend Connie Vandeman

Jeffrey has summed it up: “Walter always told me to be good, be brief and be gone. But it’s hard to be brief when talking about my friend. He was with us too brief a time. Yet while he was here, he was so very good at what he did, bringing people closer to God through song and his witness. And now he is not gone. He’s sleeping, waiting for that morning of which he sang so of

ten, ‘When the long day is ended, the journey is o’er. I shall enter that blessed abode. For the Savior I love will be waiting for me when I come to the end of the road.’” t

Special Thanks to the Arties family from Re gional Voice magazine for sharing this pro found tribute by friend Clarence Brown to the extraordinary life of Elder Walter E. Arties.

Elder Walter and Mrs. Beverly Arties

ELDER RALPH FRANKLIN

RRalph Franklin was born on January 13, 1933 in West Palm Beach, Florida to Ethel Abner Franklin and Americus Frank lin. He was the second oldest child and the only son among five sisters and two half-sisters. His mother, Ethel, died when he was in high school. After her death, Ralph lived primarily with his grand mother, Hattie Gray Abner, who was a member of the Ephesus SDA Church in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ralph was bap tized by Elder Donald Lee Crowder during a tent effort in that city.

Immediately after graduating from Roo sevelt High School, Ralph left West Palm Beach to canvass as a literature evangelist in Fitzgerald, Georgia. He canvassed for four summers to help finance his way through Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), in Huntsville, Alabama.

He graduated from Oakwood in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion. He then attended the Seventh-day Adven tist Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. (The seminary is now located at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.) He completed his studies in 1958 earning a Master of Arts degree in Theology.

Ralph was called to practice ministry in the South Atlantic Conference of Sev enth-day Adventists in March of 1959. This is where he spent his entire career, for more than 40 years.

He met his soon-to-be wife, Nola Elaine Duhart, at the General Conference Ses sion which convened in 1966, in Detroit, Michigan. Nola was the church secretary at the City Temple SDA Church in Detroit. The pastor of that church, Elder Calvin Rock, introduced the two.

Nola gave Ralph the “side eye” for a while. Marry a minister? Marry a minister who lived in the South? This initially gave her pause, but the pause ended. They were married on January 1, 1967 at the City Temple Church.

Three years later in March of 1970, their daughter Dawn Germaine was born in Orlando, Florida. After another eighteen months, Stefan Carlisle arrived in Savan nah, Georgia in October of 1971, making the Franklin family complete.

Elder Franklin served as a pastor in ma ny church districts from North Carolina to Florida. Later he also served as an ad ministrator in the South Atlantic Confer ence. His roles are outlined separately.

Elder Ralph Franklin passed away at the age of 89 in the early morning hours of June 30, 2022. His last known words were a prayer.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Nola Elaine Franklin in 2002 and by his parents. His mother died in 1950 and his father died in 1984.

Ralph Franklin is survived by his be loved children, son Stefan and his wife Bridget Jeneen Franklin, and his daughter Dawn Franklin. He is also survived by four sisters: Hattie L. Shealy of Wappinger Falls, New York; Barbara Mills of Wilson, North Carolina; Machelle Crockett and Diana Franklin, both of Riviera Beach, Florida. He also leaves behind nieces, nephews, wonderful friends and a sup portive community of faith and work. Our grief is great. Our hope is greater! “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8 NIV). t

Special Thanks to the Franklin family from Regional Voice magazine for sharing this beautiful tribute to the faithful, dedicated life of Elder Ralph Franklin.

ROLES OF SERVICE

Pastor Darlington, Florence, Hemingway and Marion, South Carolina Laurinburg, North Carolina

Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina

Apopka, Cocoa, Orlando, Sanford and Winter Park, Florida

Brunswick, Georgia Ridgeland, South Carolina

Greensboro and Burlington, North Carolina

Charlotte and Salisbury, North Carolina Pageland, South Carolina

Senior Pastor Atlanta Berean SDA Church Atlanta, Georgia

Administrator Deaconess Coordinator Trust Services Director Sabbath School Director Executive Secretary South Atlantic Conference

DR. GEORGE E. THORNTON SR.

NEWS RELEASE

as PFA Headmaster 2003 – 2004 and

his lifespan

August 10, 1951 – August 28, 2022

wWith deep sadness, we announce the passing of Dr. George E. Thornton Sr., pastor, teacher, and former Headmaster of Pine Forge Academy. Dr. Thornton was loved and admired by all who were blessed to know him. Though he leaves countless people to mourn his passing, our thoughts and sincerest prayers go to his loving wife Carolyn (Kandi), and his children, NPFAAA General Vice President Cortney, George Jr., and Justin.

We look forward to that blessed day when Christ will return and goodbyes will be no more.

The NPFAAA honors the memory of our beloved Forever Falcon, Dr. George E. Thornton Sr.

In Service, Executive Board

National Pine Forge Academy Alumni Association

12,

The students who were safely assembled outside were addressed by Dr. Leslie Pollard and Dr. David Richardson to assure them that everyone was safe, and that the matter was fully under control. Inas much as our Residence Halls are at capacity, for now, the residents of Carter Hall are being relocated to temporary housing within the city of Huntsville. “We are grateful that no student to our knowledge was injured in this incident, and the needs of our students are being taken care of as we navigate the situation,” said Dr. Leslie Pollard, President of Oakwood University.

UPDATE

Oakwood Family, The University administrators, faculty, and staff would like to thank you for your prayers regarding the fire that took place yesterday, September 12, 2022. At this time, Carter Hall is being professionally cleaned by a licensed vendor. During this process, they are removing any harmful contaminants left be hind by smoke. Soot and debris are being removed from any affected hallways and rooms, and the dorm is being refreshed and made ready for the majority of Carter Hall residents.

The remainder of Carter Hall residents will continue to be housed off campus, at a nearby hotel until they can safely return to their rooms. Thank you for your continued prayers, support, and patience as we work to quickly resolve this situation. If you have any other questions or concerns, please send an email to njones@oakwood.edu.

On September

2022, at 2:07 PM, CDT, the Dean of Carter Hall received a text message from a Resident Assistant, notifying her of the presence of smoke coming from the top floor of the dormitory. The dean and a resident assistant then evacuated the wing where the smoke was first noticed and immediately activated the 911 protocol. The entire dorm was then cleared of all remaining students. Upon arrival the fire department assessed the situation and reported back that the fire had been extinguished.

Dr. Leslie Pollard

DEVELOPING THE BEST YOU, NOW AND IN RETIREMENT!

BY DR. DELBERT W. BAKER

nNo doubt, there is a lot of encouraging, even exciting, news about retirement. Here are a few of the benefits of retire ment often emphasized: more control of your time to do what you want to do, when you want to do it; less external stress and demands from others; the ability to go where you please and to stay as long as you like; more time with family, friends and hobbies, and opportunity for fresh pursuits of development and pursuit of enjoyment.

On the other hand, here are possible dissonance areas of retirement: adjust ments required transitioning from fulltime employment; potential declines in

health; fewer financial resources; and adjustments in employment relationships and expectations.

Let’s be real. Retirement can be fun and engaging but there are some unavoidable realities that, well, should concern us. For example, according to current research studies by National Institutes of Health, Pew Research and Gallop, we see some disturbing realities of aging in America. Then, the two most vulnerable periods of life are the first years after birth and the first 12 months after retirement 2 ; one in seven Boomers in retirement are being treated for depression (highest rate among any generation of Americans); and divorce

among Boomers has doubled since the 1990s 3

1. https://www.nia.nih.gov/sites/default/ files/2017-06/health_and_retirement_ study_0.pdf

2. https://news.gallup.com/poll/181364/ reports-depression-treatment-high est-among-baby-boomers.aspx

3. https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2017/03/09/led-by-baby-boomersdivorce-rates-climb-for-americas-50-pop ulation/

The facts above focus attention on three realities. One, the retire ment phase has its challenges and how it is prepared for and entered is crucial. Attitudes and actions implemented during the first year will influence the succeeding years to come. It is crucial that you have clear thoughts and plans about retirement and that you talk about them with your spouse or family members and friends. Second, depression is always right around the corner. Depression is something that one needs to be sensitive to and if it is an issue, talk about it to a confidant or secure professional help. Third, during these turbulent years, extra time and care should be invested in your marriage and family because there are forces that militate against them.

Bottom line, inform yourself so that you can be savvy about retirement realities and the chal lenges during this chapter of life. Prepare yourself to ward off nega tive effects that confront you and others in your circle of influence. The key is to be prepared.

The Regional Conference Retirement Plan (RCRP) and its Research and Devel opment Office, along with its Association for the Development, Enrichment and Lifelong Learning (ADEL) Program is con ducting ongoing research, focus groups, and online programs for Regional Confer ence retirees and all retirees in the NAD. In cooperation with the Office of Regional Conference Ministries and The Region al Voice the RCRP is running a regular series of articles and conducting special programs on retirement and how to better prepare for it. The purpose is to inform, equip and empower retirees and those contemplating retirement to get on the winning side of this retirement boom—to help each person to be the best possible you!

A basic review of retirement articles on the Internet will bear out that the over whelming majority deal with finance and retirement. Knowing the importance of money in retirement, perhaps that’s un derstandable. But we all know that there is much more to retirement than money. Let’s look at some good practices that can be implemented that will result in a suc cessful retirement, whether you are retired

or are thinking about it. These pointers can also help you to be a force for good and to wisely help others to better cope with retirement realities. Like a three-legged stool, we will categorize these pointers into three categories: Right Mindset; Right Anchors and Right Perspective.

These are not intended to be exhaustive but can be helpful and may cause you to research areas of interest.

First, the Right Mindset

A right mindset will be of supreme value in retirement. First, you accept and em brace the E + R = O formula: Events + Response = Outcome.

You accept life as it unfolds. To illus trate, the Bible advises us that “the godly will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

That’s not intended to scare us but to in form us so that when persecution happens we won’t be caught off guard. The same principle applies with retirement. There will be problems and challenges. Be pre pared to respond appropriately. The events (E) of life will happen and there will be an outcome (O), sometimes unpleasant.

The beauty is that you and I have a crucial part to play in how we respond (R) to that

event. Your R (response) to the E (event) makes a big difference to how the O (out come) impacts you and others. In advance of potential challenges, with God’s help, work out a strategy as to how you will manage the E + R = O incidents of life.

The right mindset also nurtures a growth attitude toward life. You inten tionally work toward maintaining an attitude that learns to survive and even thrive in the face of obstacles. Challeng es will come—as you age, your body and other sentient aspects you have counted on throughout life may not function and respond the way they used to. And if time should last, you will come to a point where you will lay down to rest, for good. An ticipating that reality in advance allows you to take steps to prepare for it and to do it on the terms that align with your life values. In this context, problems and challenges are not a dead end but a spring board for further growth, improvement, and character development.

Second, the Right Anchors

A retirement anchor is a stabilizing point of your experience. You can rely on anchors for support, stability and security. They become the mainstay of a successful retirement package. The following four anchors, plus the right mindset, provide

a skeletal framework for your retirement plan. Each component facilitates your retirement goals for short- and long-term success. Your ability to make these an chors a reality will determine your suc cess.

1. Health: Do an assessment of your health status—personally and profession ally. What are your strengths and vulner able areas, physically and mentally? What do things look like as you move toward or continue through retirement? Seriously compare your practices with the eight nat ural remedies (Ministry of Healing, Page 127 or health acrostics such as NEW START,

CELEBRATION, CREATION, etc.). If needed, do something about it.

2. Community: What is the status of your spousal, family and friend relation ships? Remember, your associates and friendships will change as you shift from active full-time work to retirement. Be prepared to develop new friendships and open new relationship avenues for com munity building.

3. Service: The key to Christian retire ment isn’t all about travel, leisure and me time. Surely some of it is. However, one of the great opportunity avenues will be the various occasions you’ll have to volunteer, serve God and others, or to just spread goodness. You have talent, skills and expe rience that the world needs. It may be that you must scout around to find out where your passion and skill-set fit the needs surrounding you.

4. Finance: There is so much material on the Internet on what to do and what not to do with finance. We have a special Retirement Finance-Budgeting Workshop on the August AMP (ADEL Monthly Pro gram). Go to regionalretirement.org or ADEL Today for the free 20-minute pro gram. You’ll have to diligently work out your own study on how to be financially secure. (That is, not outliving your month ly budget or your retirement nest egg.) If

necessary, seek objective financial advice on how to pick and plan your financial goals, investment areas, and what pitfalls to avoid. Also be a good steward—plan your estate, will, and pre-funeral and/or memorial service needs.

Third, the Right Perspective

No doubt retirement is the prime time to thank God for having blessed you to reach this point in life. You have success fully made it through the first two chapters of life to the third chapter of 60 plus years. As surely as God had a purpose and task for you in the first two chapters of life (1-30 and 31-60 years), He has a new and fresh purpose for you now. If you search for that purpose, you will find it (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

Challenge yourself to develop a bi-dimensional perspective to life. Yes, love and laugh and live! But as you do, be ever aware that you are on your way to the heavenly eternal kingdom. This life is not the end but only the preparation for the life to come. And no—you will not be “so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good,” but you will be so “earthly useful that you will direct attention to your heavenly destination.”

You live in the present, and as long as you are alive you will add value to your self, your family and friends, your church, and your community. In retirement, you can develop your own BHAGs, Bold Heav enly Anointed Goals, which will result in good for others and for the Kingdom of God.

The Best You

It is said that when Michelangelo would sit to do a work of art, he would look at the block of marble and say, “The sculpture is already inside, I just need to chip away the stone to reveal it.” So it is with God’s good purpose for your retirement. It’s within you. You just need to discover and reveal it. t

REGIONAL CONFERENCE RETIREMENT PLAN

ADEL WEBSITE TOOLS

www.ADEL.Today (www.regionalretirement.org)

ADEL MONTHLY PROGRAMS (AMP) Sign-up for at www.regionalretirement.org or www.ADEL.Today

Delbert W.

PhD., is Director of Research and Development for the Regional Conference Retire ment Plan.

Baker,

ACTIVATE: A CALL TO SERVE LIKE JESUS

BY CLAUDIA M. ALLEN

WWelcome back to another installment of “Activate,” a column exploring contempo rary social justice issues through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In today’s column you’ll learn that activating a social justice that resembles that of Jesus is going to require us to serve like Him. To activate a social justice that rebukes oppression, restores oppressed people, and replaces oppressive systems, we need to engage in the kind of consistent ser vice that sees the unseen and serves the un served. When we make service the heartbeat of our activism, our communities experience the Word made flesh. They experience a rep lication of the nature and character of God in the Earth. I hope to show you that John’s Gos pel reveals that these routine acts of service are what will let a dying and doubting world know that we are disciples of Jesus—by our love. It’s time we serve like Jesus.

A sweet legato, her voice rose and fell like the snowcapped mountains surrounding her. Standing before the congregation of her hus band’s church, her voice penetrated the hearts of men and women alike. It was Women’s Day at the New Hope Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado, and the program was graced with the angelic soprano trills of First Lady Anna Lee Williams. Her classically trained vocal chords, clear and controlled, rang out each verse puncturing the heart of a mesmerized Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Listening to “If I Can Help Somebody” for the very first time, the young activist felt the lyrics and the melo dy pull on the servant within him.

Dr. King left Colorado, but that song nev er left him. A song about purpose, about a commitment to living a life of influence and intentionality, the words articulated the beauty of a life dedicated to service. In fact, it suggests that a life devoted to service is a life well spent.

History highlights how Dr. King’s activism spoke, but Dr. King’s activism also served. Dr. King’s activism said, “If I can help somebody . . . then my living shall not be in vain.” This kind of activism teaches us that service is the linchpin that transforms our activism from

vanity into virtue. The moment this song be comes our anthem, then service becomes the life-blood of our activism and people become the heartbeat of our justice.

How do we focus on the people in need without losing sight of the institutions and ideologies that put them there? What is the balance? I believe that activism through ser vice is our opportunity to give flesh to the words of Jesus Christ, thereby applying salve to the brokenness in the people, communi ties, and systems that surround us. Jesus was committed to engaging in activism through service because Jesus was committed to loving the unloved and seeing the unseen.

Traveling throughout Galilee and Judea, John records that Jesus came in contact with an unseen and unserved Samaritan woman; an unseen and unserved lame man; an unseen and unserved multitude; and an unseen and unserved blind man. Meeting these men and women and making them physically, socially, and spiritually whole, Jesus demonstrated that the love He was telling His disciples to replicate is the kind of love that serves the un served and sees the unseen.

When Jesus declared in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (NKJV), He means that we need to find those who are invisible in our own society. Who in our communities is being stepped over for decades like the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5? Who in our communities is being ignored from birth like the blind man in John 9? Who are the groups of people going hungry in our communities?

For service to become activism, we must act intentionally and consistently. It can’t be a one-time thing. When we surrender our convenience for the wholeness of others on a consistent basis, we disrupt the systems work ing to maintain the imprisonment, blindness, nakedness, hunger, and sickness that plague our neighbors and our communities.

This week, please pray and reflect on the

following questions: In what ways can I activate social justice through service in my community? What are some of the ma jor needs within my community? What is one service project I or my church can do consistently?

This is your call to serve like Jesus. t

dia is a lay preacher at Emmanuel Brinklow SDA Church, with a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University and a Bache lor of Arts degree from Andrews University.

She also holds certificates from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Govern ment and the Howard University School of Divinity.

Claudia M. Allen is the Community Outreach Supervisor for the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity in Co lumbia, Maryland. Clau

Bryant Taylor, D.Min., is Communication Director for the Southern Union of Seventh- day Adventists and Editor of Southern Tidings

magazine. Also Associate Editor of Regional Voice magazine, he coordinated this cover age.

How do we focus on the people in need without losing sight of the institutions and ideologies that put them there?

BILL RUSSELL

NICHELLE NICHOLS

WWilliam (Bill) Felton Russell lived on this earth from February 12, 1934 to July 31, 2022. He worked hard to make the most of his tall, lean, adult frame (6’10,” 215 lbs.) to become one of the most dedicated bas ketball athletes of all time—decorated for exploits on and off the court. He gave 13 years of loyalty and hard play as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Bas ketball Association, from 1956 to 1959. He was at the core of a winning team, earning an astonishing 11 NBA championships and named Most Valuable Player, MVP, five times. He was also a 12-time NBA All Star. Before coming to the NBA, Russell had taken his college team, the San Francisco Dons of San Francisco University, to win back-to-back NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. In December of that same year, Russell led the U.S. basketball team to Olympic gold at the games in Mel bourne, Australia. He played over strenu ous objections of the International Olym pic Committee (IOC) leader who argued that Russell was no longer an amateur since he had signed with the Celtics. But Bill had not played a single Celtics game before winning the Olympic medal.

Russell was not an easy man to know. He was born in West Monroe, Louisiana, in the heat of stifling segregation. When things became too difficult to “breathe,” Mr. Charles Russell and his wife Mrs. Ka tie Russell joined millions of others fleeing the Deep South in the Second Great Mi gration and moved the family to Oakland, California. They did not find riches—far from it—but they did find opportunities despite the hardships. When he was on ly 12, Russell’s mother died. His father earned his son’s deep admiration when he deliberately took up work in a factory as a truck driver and steelworker to support his family, provide for them and keep them together.

Russell’s great talents in basketball were not apparent in his early years. He was cut from a team in middle school and almost cut in high school. It would take him years to master the game. He was still raw po tential when a University of San Francisco staffer scouted him with a scholarship; he accepted.

By the time he went to the NBA, Russell knew he was good enough to require a $25,000 signing bonus from any team he joined—about $250,000 in 2022 money. He landed with the St. Louis Hawks. Boston coach Red Auerbach wisely traded a player who wanted to go to St. Louis in order to get Russell to play for the Celtics. Russell made good of this coach’s gamble, playing hard for him, for the Celtics and for him self. By 1966, Russell succeeded Auerbach as head coach for the Celtics, the first black NBA head coach. He continued to play and to win.

As a player, however, he never did warm to the media and Celtics fans, refusing to grant interviews or sign autographs more often than not. To call these relationships hostile would be a vast understatement.

The harsh treatment of racism had steeled his heart. Flattery simply turned him to ice. In some cases when the ceremonies rolled around to award his performances, Russell didn’t even show up!

But he did show up at the Lincoln Me morial for the 1963 March on Washington, D.C. And he showed up in solid support of heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali in 1967 (when the fighter refused to be draft ed during the Vietnam War era and was subsequently stripped of his title).

When his playing days were over, Russell insisted that the Celtics retire his No. 6 jersey, and that they do so in an empty arena. The Celtics followed his wishes. He skipped the induction ceremony to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but later received his Hall of Fame ring in a private ceremony including his family in 2019.

He also reconciled with Boston fans, allowing the Celtics to retire his No. 6 jersey again, (something that had not been done) in 1999 to a sellout crowd. He was surrounded by fellow legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Celtics own Larry Bird, and close friend and court rival Wilt Chamberlain. The standing ovation warmed Rus sell’s

heart to the point of tears.

In 2008, he accepted the We Are Bos ton Leadership Award. In 2009, the NBA named their MVP award after him. In 2013, the city of Boston unveiled a statue of Bill Russell on City Hall Plaza, and he attended. In 2015, the figures of two chil dren were placed with his statue to com memorate his work with youngsters.

He also appeared front and center to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Barack Obama placed it around his neck in a White House ceremony.

His first tweet was a photograph in 2017. It showed Bill Russell, wearing his Presi dential Medal of Freedom, taking a knee. He did so in the controversial tradition of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who protested racism and unfairness by kneeling when the national anthem played to begin National Football League games. Russell’s caption read, “Proud to take a knee, and to stand tall against social injustice.”

Bill Russell lived out his days and died at 88 on July 31, 2022 in his home on Mercer Island, Washington. t

Facts gathered from ABC and CBS television network news and ESPN reports.

LLife began for Grace Dell Nichols on December 28, 1932, in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Her father, Mr. Earl Nichols, who had also worked in a factory, was elected both mayor and chief magis trate of this town. Her mother, Mrs. Lishia Nichols, was a homemaker. As a young ster, little Grace told her parents that she disliked her name and asked for a new one! They granted her request and offered “Nichelle,” which she accepted.

Nichelle grew up loving the performing arts, training in ballet since her child hood. After graduating from high school, she launched a career in dance and song. She toured all over the U.S. and Canada with some exceptional masters and their bands, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hamp ton. She also danced in the film version of the modern classic Porgy and Bess.

Her beauty and theatrical performanc es drew the attention of everyone from Broadway playwrights and producers to Hollywood executives. One producer, Gene Roddenberry, envisioned an interra cial, even interstellar cast for a television program that would make outer space “the final frontier.” The series, Star Trek, cast Nichelle Nichols as highly visible bridge officer Lt. Nyota Uhura.

She drew immediate attention, good re views, unbelievable fan mail and of course, other offers—some from Broadway. After that first stellar season, she was ready to fly elsewhere. She went to thank Rodden berry for his generosity and to hand in her letter of resignation. He tried to dissuade her and finally asked her to reconsider her decision over the weekend. She would.

In the meantime, that weekend she was a celebrity guest at an NAACP event. The organizer came to her and said her “biggest fan” wanted to meet her. When Nichelle stood to greet this gentleman, she thought, “Whoever this fan is will have to wait,” because striding toward her with a beautiful smile was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“He reached out to me and said, ‘Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.’ He said that Star Trek was the only show that he, and his wife Coretta, would allow their three little children to stay up and watch.”

She began to tell Dr. King about her plans to leave the series, but she never got to finish.

“I never got to tell him why, because he said, ‘You cannot, you cannot...for the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful, people who can sing, [can] dance, and can go to space, who are professors, lawyers.’ Dr. King Jr went on to say, ‘If you leave, that door can be closed because your role is not a black role, and is not a female role; he can fill it with anybody even an alien.’” 1

Ms. Nichols recognized the truth in ev erything he said and agreed to stay—con tinuing to let Lt. Uhura make television and film history. However, her consider able influence was not limited to televi sion. She became a spokesperson for the National Aeronautics and Space Admin istration (NASA) encouraging minority members and young women to consider careers in space.

Quite a few astronauts certainly did: Dr. Sally Ride, the first woman in space and USAF Col. Guion Bluford. Dr. Judith Resnick and Dr. Ronald McNair both flew in separate shuttle missions before they died on the Challenger. Other space travel ers followed, even after this tragedy. And Dr. Mae Jemison not only flew into space

as a NASA astronaut, but also followed Lt. Uhura by appearing on a Star Trek episode.

Nichelle Nichols’ life came to an end from heart failure at 89, July 30, 2022 in Silver City, New Mexico. t

Facts gathered from ABC and CBS televi sion network news reports.

1. View Ms. Nichols’ fascinating interview on her meeting with Dr. King for the Archive of American Television at EMMYTVLEG ENDS.ORG on YouTube.

BACK TO THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC EVANGELISM

BY BYRON DULAN

wWhile methods may change in response to changing circumstances, core principles do remain steadfast. Here’s a startling realization: If we were to ask how to successfully carry out public evangelism in our current times, the answer can be found by reviewing our history. Paraphrasing Ellen White’s statement — that we should have no fear for the future if we can remember what God has done for us in the past — offers powerful motivation for us to revisit some of the key operational principles behind the historic achievements and successful outcomes, specifically characterized by black evangelism in the United States. One such case is the Oakland, California evangelistic series conducted by Elder Edward Earl Cleveland in 1970.

In 1970, Oakland, California qualified as the least likely candidate to be considered for a major city-wide evangelistic meeting. The animosity between various groups—

rich and poor; black and white; police and community—were at an all-time high. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area was reeling as a result of the Free Speech Movement; the anti-Vietnam War Movement; the Haight-Ashbury Free Drugs/ Free Love Movement; the Black Liberation/Consciousness Movement; the on-going Civil Rights Movement (especially after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.); the second term re-election of Ronald Reagan as governor of California; recurring incidents of police brutality and the rising tensions between local and federal law enforcement agencies and the Black Panther Party (whose national headquarters were located in West Oakland), about a mile away from Market Street SDA Church, the “Mother Church” of many Black Seventh-day Adventists in Northern California.In an unprecedented move, the leadership team of the Northern

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists brought all area churches to gether (black, white, Latino and Asian) in support of a unified meeting. It would be held downtown at the 6000-seat capacity Oakland Civic Auditorium. Located just east of the Alameda County Administra tion Building—which itself had served as center-stage for mass demonstrations over the prosecution and multiple trials of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton (from 1968-1970), and in protest of the disturbingly disproportionate draft of black men being sent to fight the Viet nam War—the Civic Auditorium venue appeared to be an extremely high-risk setting. Additionally, the multiracial evan gelistic meeting was set to begin on July 12—the middle of a very hot summer—as racial and community tensions continued to mount.

How God brought together this rainbow

coalition of Seventh-day Adventists at that precise moment in history represents a faith-building miracle. The coalition con sisted of all the Northern California Bay Area SDA churches and included members of the neighboring Central California Conference’s SDA churches.

William R. Robinson, Pastor of the Mar ket Street SDA Church, was selected to be primary Director of the meetings, with J.W. Lehman (East Oakland SDA Church Pastor) designated as Associate Director. Conference Temperance leader, Richard (Dick) Barron, managed responsibilities as Associate Music Director. Included in the photo are Harold Singleton (Director of the Regional Department of the North American Division), James Chase (North ern California Conference President), black pastors—D.B. Rand, Van Runnels, Joseph Jones, William Penick and John Hunter; Golden Gate Academy teachers, Boyce Dulan and Arnold Trujillo; and Ron Graybill

Elder E. E. Cleveland was at the top of ministerial evangelism in 1970 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He had a deep understanding of urban ministry and the specific, inherent challenges when working in difficult political situations. The state of tension and animosity be tween the Oakland Police Department (who were needed to ensure the safety of people attending the meetings), and the Black Panther Party (who were needed to encourage the people of West Oakland to actually attend the meetings) had to be very carefully navigated. While awaiting approval of meeting permits by the City of Oakland, Elder Cleveland dispatched Walter Horton (a Field School Seminari an) to the Black Panther headquarters to meet with Bobby Seale, interim leader of the Party while Huey P. Newton remained incarcerated. Elder Cleveland related the story this way:

“Horton arrived at the party headquarters while the Panther musclemen were staging their weight-lifting exercises. Spectators were standing around in awe of bulging biceps and sweat soaked bodies. Horton ripped off his shirt, flexed his muscles and proceeded to outlift the best of them. Impressed, someone ushered him in to chat with Bobby Seale, whom Horton informed that he was an emissary to secure approval of our meeting to begin shortly in the civic center. Bobby said that a Panther would be sent to observe the opening and he would give his answer the following Monday. On Sunday, the day of my opening, Horton gave the man a tour of the Medical Dental van (on loan from

the South Central Conference) and [gave] a view of the “Feed the Hungry” Food Program. He listened intently to the sermon. The next day the Panthers approved the meetings and gave Horton a black beret!”

Miraculously, both the Oakland Po lice Department and the Black Panthers approved and supported the meetings, with no serious incidents or disturbances occurring for the duration of the 11-week meeting.

A report in the North American In formant proclaimed that the meetings aroused deep interest all over the Bay Ar ea—from the Black Panthers to the presi dent of the local Wells Fargo Bank.

People attended from every strata of society, including “multitudes of outsiders from all walks of life and races.”

An article written by N.R. Dower, Direc tor of the General Conference Ministerial Association, outlined the various success ful strategies implemented on behalf of the venture:

• Months before the official start of the evangelistic campaign, prayer meetings and dedicated fasting were carried out, in one accord, by the alliance of churches.

• Elder Cleveland preached powerful, Spirit-anointed sermons throughout the 11-week meeting—totaling 66 sermons in all!

• The meetings were multiracial in nature from beginning to end. “The in terracial nature of the participants on the program and their harmonious working relationships were a marvel to the non-Ad ventist inhabitants of the Bay Area. This meeting was an object lesson to the world that blacks and whites can function meaningfully together in an age of racial tension.”

• The “campaign” included a massive food distribution program, which served thousands of local people within the com munity. (Students enrolled in the local SDA Academy also participated in the food distribution drive).

• A medical van, on loan from the South Central Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, provided free, basic medical and dental services to depressed areas of the city. Dedicated Adventist doctors, dentists, and nurses volunteered their time and services.

• KPIX Eye-Witness News televised two prime time news segments featuring the food distribution program.

• Miracles of physical healing were reg ularly reported throughout the meetings. One woman described how a malignant throat tumor had completely disappeared from her body as a result of special prayer.

• Adventist wives joyfully celebrated the baptisms of their once non-believing husbands.

More than 250 people were baptized during the Oakland, California evan gelistic [campaign], with many more subsequently joining the church in its af termath. Elder Cleveland was heard to say that at no prior time in his ministry had he more definitely felt the literal presence of the Spirit of God in a meeting, such as he experienced during this one.

Prophesy tells us that the greatest days for public evangelism are in the future. Although today’s methods are different (streaming, podcasts, techno-evangelism, etc.), the principles remain. The Holy Spirit, prayer, community service, social justice, miraculous healing, and Christian love will continue to be Christ’s methods that will give true success in reaching the people. t

REFERENCES

1. Pacific Union Recorder July 2, 1970, p. 4. 2. Courtesy of the Harry B. Dulan Ar chives

3. Graybill found a copy of Ellen G. White’s Last Will and Testament in the Alameda County Records Office, which revealed that a percentage of proceeds from her writings and estate, should be given to benefit the “colored work.” But we will leave that sto ry for another day. Graybill authored two books: E.G. White and Church Race Rela tions (1970) and Mission to Black America (1971).

4. E.E. Cleveland, Let the Church Roll On: An Autobiography, Pacific Press Publishing Assn., Nampa, Idaho pp. 51-52.

5. North American Informant, Novem ber-December 1970, Vol. 24, Number 6.

6. Pacific Union Recorde r, September 10, 1970, p. 5.

7. North American Informant, January-Feb ruary 1971, Vol. 25, Number 1 8. Ibid.

Bryant Taylor, D.Min., is Communication Director for the Southern Union of Seventh-day Adventists and Editor of South ern Tidings magazine. Also As sociate Editor of Regional Voice magazine, he coordinated this coverage.

Byron Dulan is Vice President for Regional Affairs in the North Pacific Union Confer ence.

Elder E.E. Cleveland

Oakland, California

THE POPE’S APOLOGY TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN CANADA AND THEIR RESPONSE

BY CHRISTELLE AGBOKA

AAs a child, Tim Longboat, a Mohawk, heard his grandmother speak of seeing children thrown down from the upper floor window of her residential school.

Rejane LaForme, of the Onondaga tribe, recalls her mother talking about a sixyear-old schoolmate who was banished to an underground dungeon as punishment. He was beaten so severely on the soles of his feet that he couldn’t walk. Left cold, hungry and without a bathroom, his cries were ignored.

For decades, the atrocities suffered by Indigenous children at government-spon sored, church-run residential schools were swept under the rug. Then last May, the world was horrified to learn the remains of 215 Indigenous children had been found at a former residential school in Kam loops, British Columbia. This discovery led to increased cries for responsible par ties—including the government and Cath olic Church—to make amends.

In March 2022, Indigenous elders and residential school survivors met with Pope Francis in Rome. They demanded a formal apology for the multi-generational trauma the schools (run by several denominations but mostly Catholic) and their abuses in curred.

On July 25, the pope apologized in front of residential school survivors and Indig enous community members at a former residential school site in Alberta. It was his first stop on a six-day, Canada-wide “penitential pilgrimage.”

“I am deeply sorry … for the ways in which many members of the church and

religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in proj ects of cultural destruction and forced as similation promoted by the governments of that time, culminating in the system of residential schools.”

For many Indigenous Canadians, like Marvin Robert Miller, a Mohawk whose father attended a residential school, the wounds run deep. “I am still upset about what happened in the residential schools, the grave injustice committed against Canada’s Indigenous community,” he says.

“The trauma to the children is immense. And the extended families are still griev ing and suffering.”

From the 19th century to the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were sent to residential schools.

The children, broken by the schools’ phys ical, sexual and spiritual abuse, birthed

a broken Indigenous society, with higher than average rates of incarceration, poor health, poverty, substance abuse, and sui cide, among other issues.

Tim Longboat explains the generation al trauma in his family and community: “[Residential schools] contributed to dysfunctional family situations—ostra cism, humiliation and shame … poverty, unemployment, no educational opportu nities, no motivation. These things lead to alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse and, ultimately, suicide.”

Marcel Bananish, a cultural worker from the Anishinaabe (Ojibway-Cree) tribe, understands the impact of “hav ing your roots pulled” from his Catholic (non-residential) school experience and attending the last of the Catholic-run summer Bible schools.

Bananish says, “Stuff happened at day

camp, but I would never tell my grandfa ther (a staunch Catholic, who raised him).”

He adds, “Even in my early JK or SK class, because I spoke my language, the teach er took me to the principal’s office. The principal opened the drawer, full of really thick straps, and said, ‘You’ll get strapped if you keep speaking your language.’”

His teacher, shocked, sincerely apolo gized once they left the office. However, she warned him, “That language will get you in trouble.” Eventually, Bananish channeled his pain into passing on his be loved Indigenous culture and teachings.

The Canadian reaction to the pope’s apology has been mixed. Many have de rided it as being largely symbolic. Others have said it’s a start. Overall, Miller, Long boat and Bananish view it as a positive for the community.

Miller noted, “The pope’s apology can bring some comfort to people suffering emotionally by accepting the damage done through the schools.” But, he added, “As a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I have found peace and reconciliation with God in His forgiveness.” LaForme, also an Adventist, would concur. “I am a forgiving person; hence, the apology is redundant.”

Bananish’s healing comes chiefly from engaging with his culture. However, he noted, “I am happy he came. People are

going through so much right now; I’m glad they had that opportunity to find peace and comfort.”

Longboat stated, “It was an excellent initiative of the pope to render an apolo gy. He could have passed it on to the next pope, but he made the effort to meet the leaders in Rome, then apologize to the Indigenous people in Canada. We have to see this as a step forward.”

When asked what else the Catholic Church could do to make amends, their answers included tackling homelessness and poverty and providing Indigenous people financial compensation.

But ultimately, despite different spir itual beliefs (Bananish, raised Catholic, follows Indigenous spirituality and the others are Seventh-day Adventists), they all promoted this form of Christ’s method; i.e., mingling with people and meeting their expressed needs.

Considering the way forward, Bananish concluded, “Our leaders would have to tell [the church] what we need. We need to work together.” t

2. Full apology transcript here - https:// www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/pope-addressmaskwacis-alberta-1.6531231

3. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/ 1113378991/pope-apology-canada-indige nous-schools

4. https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/8-key-issuesfor-indigenous-peoples-in-canada 5. https://www.washingtonpost.comopin ions/2022/07/28/canada-pope-apologybad-reviews-symbolism/

Christelle Agboka is a seasoned writer and commu nications professional who has been blessed to work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 2017. A motto she always aspires to follow is: "When you learn, teach. When you get, give" by Maya Angelou.

REFERENCES

1. Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United Churches also ran residential schools.

Bryant Taylor, D.Min., is Communication Director for the Southern Union of Sev enth-day Adventists and Editor of Southern Tidings maga zine. Also Associate Editor of Regional Voice magazine, he coordinated this coverage.

oOn May 25, 2020, George Floyd, 46, died when Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. The death set off global outrage. Chauvin was charged and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 22.5 years. He also faced federal charges for denying so many of George Floyd’s constitutional rights. Chauvin was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 21 years, some to be served concurrently with the murder sen tence. Such outcomes are not always the case.

Just three weeks later on June 12 in Atlanta, Georgia, in a Wendy’s fast food parking lot, another man fell into a drunken sleep in the drive through lane and blocked it. Rayshard Brooks, 27, died after an extended conversation-turned-scuffle with city police. In the struggle, the intoxicated Brooks wrestled a Taser from one officer, hit him, ran, turned once more to shoot the Taser and ran again.

Officer Garrett Rolfe took out his own Taser to shoot. When Brooks turned to

run after shooting the Taser he wrestled away, Officer Rolfe shot him with his weapon twice in the back, mortally wounding him. He then kicked the dying man while Officer Devin Brosnan stood on his shoulder.

The incident was captured on video by customers from several angles and by po lice body camera video. In response to this death, protesters marched to challenge police and an enraged mob burned and de stroyed the Wendy’s restaurant. It has not been rebuilt.

Officer Rolfe was fired from the Atlanta Police Force shortly thereafter and faced murder and other charges. Rolfe contested his firing, citing lack of due process. He was reinstated to the force in May 2021 but was then placed on administrative leave.

Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned after this incident. She then ac cepted an offer to become Police Chief in Louisville, Kentucky, the location of the death of first responder Breonna Taylor, also shot and killed by police entering her home while she was sleeping.

Fulton County District Attorney, the prosecutor who filed charges against Rolfe, was voted out of office in his next election. A new prosecutor assigned to this case asked for a change of venue for the Rolfe trial. The request was denied. Yet another official, special prosecutor Pete Skandalakis, was appointed to the case. In August 2022, Skandalakis ap peared before the public and the media for an extensive press conference. He stated that he did not believe race was a factor in this case; that the situation was simply “volatile;” that the officers acted “appro priately.”

Skandalakis declined to prosecute Officer Rolfe on the murder charge and announced he would not pursue lesser charges against him or Officer Brosnan, who stood on Brooks as he lay dying. t

Facts compiled from reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and live coverage of the Skandalakis press conference by WSBTV Channel 2 television news on August 23,

TOP 20 STATES - CASES

California 11,236,114 Texas 7,944,244 Florida 7,160,939 New York 6,285, 797 Illinois 3,760,119 Pennsylvania 3,254,503 North Carolina 3,198,866 Ohio 3,143,746 Georgia 2,905,400 Michigan 2,836,167 New Jersey 2,738,380 Tennessee 2,337,590 Arizona 2,271,560 Virginia 2,087,360 Massachusetts 2,050,942 Indiana 1,921,993 Wisconsin 1,865,594 Washington 1,811,170 South Carolina 1,708,074 Minnesota 1,664,797

TOP 20 STATES - DEATHS

State/Territory Death Rate

California 96,036 Texas 91,246 Florida 81,369 New York 72,167 Pennsylvania 47,213 Ohio 39,856 Illinois 39,685 Michigan 38,624 Georgia 38,579 New Jersey 34,738 Arizona 31,370 Tennessee 27,778 North Carolina 26,525 Indiana 24,708 Virginia 21,849 Massachusetts 21,706 South Carolina 18,365 Wisconsin 15,260 Washington 14,284 Minnesota 13,651

September 29, 2022.

Cliff Harris DAP Co-Director

ADVENTIST VOLUNTEERS RESPOND DURING HISTORIC KENTUCKY FLOODS

BY BENIA JENNINGS

WWhen disaster struck residents in Ken tucky, during catastrophic flooding in July 2022, it became evident to Jim Ingersoll that there was a need for an immediate disaster response within the borders of the Southern Union. Ingersoll, a retired veteran Adventist educator and program director of the 2 Serve Disaster Response team, assembled his group of Adventist volunteers bringing aid to the many flood victims. “We cover disaster relief for the eight states within the Southern Union primarily using high school and college students. However, recently, more adults are getting onboard with this and bringing some valuable equipment too,” said Ingersoll.Over 100 Adventist volunteers responded, including 57 high school stu dents. “Schools were about to open, and although it is sometimes difficult for kids to get away, three schools still sent their students. The senior class at Fletcher Academy in Fletcher, North Carolina, de cided to do this work rather than have a senior retreat. Beacon Academy near Col legedale and Madison Academy in Nash ville, Tennessee also helped.”

The volunteers arrived in the city of Hazard, in the southeast of Perry County, and witnessed a level of devastation not seen in past disasters of this kind. “When we got here, it was a little different than other disasters we’ve responded to because initially, we couldn’t truly see the devastation. They have hollers which are like valleys or lanes that follow a narrow valley between the hills.

So, when we got into town, we couldn’t see

the damage because it was all hidden alongside the river. You wouldn’t know that they were flooded unless you were driving on a road along the creeks and rivers,” said Johnny Rodman, disaster recovery volunteer in the Kentucky Tennessee Conference.

“Our first job was to identify who needed help. We soon learned what a tightly knit community this was—everybody knows everybody. With so many bridges knocked out and washed away, having the help of community members was the only way we could find many of the victims. Residents knew what was happening and who needed help, so they began coming forward and saying, ‘Hey, we need help!’” he continued.

Swollen floodwaters washed out bridges, wiped out power, and sent some residents scrambling to rooftops as water gushed into their homes.

“The devastation that these residents experienced will take years for them to recover from if they ever do. Water levels were way higher than normal, and higher than any flood they’ve experienced before by six to ten feet. The flood waters swept dozens of houses off their foundations, some would crash into others, and they’d all be off their foundations. I learned that water flowing 6 miles an hour has the same force as an E-F5 tornado with 200 mph excess winds. They had these condi

tions down through all six counties.” Said Ingersoll.

Despite the historic flooding, devasta tion, and loss experienced by the flood victims, volunteers all remarked on the resilience and positive attitude of the people in the community. “Normally, I’d advertise on social media that we’re here to help, but here everybody knows everybody and is extremely friendly; they would give me the shirt off their back. Everyone always says, ‘Well, I got a little damage, but there are people worse off than me,’ and their whole house is gone!”

Even though they face homelessness, and no one has insurance, they’re just praising God for every little thing you do for them. It’s so different than any other disaster I’ve been to. Everyone is coming together to serve. The Baptist church let us stay there and fed us every day,” said Rodman.

In addition to the Adventist volunteers, several nonprofits and churches were on the ground working together to bring relief to the people of Hazard. “So many other nonprofits pitched in, allowing us to fix these folks’ homes fully. Catholic charities, Eagles Club Fraternal Order, His

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAOLA MORA ZEPEDA

Wendel Adams, volunteer, removes debris from home in Hazard, Kentucky.

House Ministries, and the Hispanic Bap tist Church were all helpful in donating and sponsoring many of the buildings we were working to restore.” Said Rodman.

“They understand the situation they are in and usually don’t get a lot of volunteers in this area because the mentality many folks have is that ‘Oh Kentucky got flood ed again’ when this is actually the biggest flood they’ve had in history,” he continued. There’s a growing concern from many volunteers that disasters of this magnitude will become the norm in the future. “Something big is happening, giving us a great opportunity,” said Ingersoll.

“The muck outs we do, the points of distribution (PODs), and getting debris removed, give us opportunities to encour age people, hug them, pray with them, give them a Steps to Christ or On the Edge of Time book and just let them know that we care. A muck out is nothing but just plain, muddy, dirty work, and it makes no sense to the human brain why someone would volunteer to come and do that for nothing. The last house we did had water levels over 30 ft deep and up to the eves of the house. The couple had just finished getting everything set exactly how they wanted it for retirement, and then this

flood comes through way higher than anything they’ve ever experienced. It pretty much buried their whole house! They were overwhelmed. They said, ‘We cried, we prayed, and then you guys showed up. How did you find us? Why did you come to our house?’ I said you know the Lord wanted us to be here. A local pastor got your address and passed it on to me, and the rest is history,” said Ingersoll.

“We had 28 volunteers, and it took us seven hours to muck out their house. We had debris twelve feet wide and seven feet high out of that house. That couple, even with their children helping, would have taken months to get that done, and by then, they would have been so riddled with mold and mildew that who knows what would have happened. Doing these kinds of things provides opportunities to touch people’s lives in a way that you would never get any other way. We’ve been doing this for 17 years. Consistently at the conference level, we’re given a church to use for accommodations, while some con ferences reimburse food receipts, the Lord has blessed us with a nice shower trailer, and our student and adult volunteers contribute sweat equity. We ensure volun teers’ necessities are taken care of, and we

just need people to come down and do the work.” Said Ingersoll.

Over the years, private donors have helped to support the work of Ingersoll and his team. Visit 2serve.life to donate to future disaster relief efforts and for infor mation on ways to volunteer. t

Benia Jennings is Com munication Director and Multimedia Ministry Coordi nator for the Allegheny West Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Left to Right, Johnny Rodman, Disaster Relief Field Coordinator, Kentucky/Tennessee Conference; Andrew Jamieson, Vice Principal, Madison Academy; Graceyn and Noah Jamieson, Andrew Jamieson’s children pause for a brief break.

Volunteers stack debris outside and work to clear homes.

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